


RWBY: Second Bloom

by Maximusmax



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff and Angst, POV Multiple
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:20:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 61,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24814477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maximusmax/pseuds/Maximusmax
Summary: "4 individuals are reborn into the world of Remnant, 3 hoping to save lives and the last wondering what the hell she got herself into"
Relationships: maybe?
Kudos: 9





	1. Trailer

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all~This is my first group project me and my friends. It should be noted that there is a fourth member Your Teammate. However he does not an AO3 account. Any way have fun with the trailer ~ also among the creators is Shadgan and CaffinatedDragon. Btw if anyone knows how to enable co-creators please leave a comment how~

Reseda

“Time’s up, brats!” I sighed, letting the pencil fall from cramped fingers as I stretched out over my desk. Other students around me did the same, giving off various groans and other sounds of exhaustion.

“The written portion of your exam is now completed. Please collect your gear, and meet up outside the school for your practical.”

“Yes, Professor Branwen!” There was a shuffling of activity as everyone gathered up their stuff, and I quickly made my way to where my combat gear was stashed. 

“Jeez, that test was brutal!” a voice exclaimed from next to me, and I looked over to see one Yang Xiao Long talking with some of her friends. “Uncle Qrow didn’t pull any punches with this one, did he?” I shook my head and kept walking, giving the group a friendly wave as I passed.

I wasn’t one of the first ones to arrive at the place, since I had to put armor on in addition to grabbing my weapon. Professor Xiao Long was waiting, arms folded. When the last straggler arrived, he started the introductory speech.

“Now that you’re done with the written exam, it’s time for your practical,” he began. “We will be dropping you in the forests around here, and you will have a Grimm slaying competition. Your scrolls will automatically record the kills you get, with higher point values being awarded to more difficult kills.”

A kill contest? But the forests around Signal were very notably low on Grimm specimens that could feasibly threaten a senior year student at Patch. The most dangerous things were Ursae, and there were barely any Alphas because of the frequent live-fire class trips.

“Now before you ask,” Professor Xiao Long explained, “The forests have been seeded with some of the nastier specimens the professors were able to capture. Don’t treat this like any normal assignment.”

That’s more like what I expected.

“Teamwork is not discouraged,” the professor continued. “If you do end up killing something while working with a partner, 75% of the point value will be distributed to both of you. This goes down to 60% or so with three people, and so on. These Bullheads’ll get you into the forest. Any questions?”

No one said anything, so at the professor’s urging everyone piled into the Bullheads and lifted off.

Once we were airborne I quickly closed my eyes and tried to calm down. This was the last step before Beacon, and the last step before being able to actually affect things in this world, so I’d better not fuck it up.

Eventually, the professor’s voice crackled on through the Bullhead intercom. “Drop point is coming up, kids!” He announced cheerily. “Get ready!”

There was a brief, confused silence until one of my classmates spoke up. “Uh, Professor, did you just say ‘drop point?’” He asked nervously. 

“Sure did!” Professor Xiao Long cackled. “What, did you think we were actually gonna land these things? With all the Grimm down there they’d be wrecked in seconds! Consider this a hint: Make sure you’ve got a landing strat ready!”

I don’t know what I expected, honestly. That was my last thought before the ground opened up beneath us, and all of a sudden the entire class was falling towards a sea of green.

I quickly spread my arms and legs out, activating my Semblance on my armor to slow my descent even further. There was a jerk on my arms and legs and a slight drain on my Aura, but my fall became much less dangerous as my armor’s descent slowed down, with me being carried by it.

Below me, all the other students were deploying their own means of landing safely. Yang in particular was using the recoil of her shot-gauntlets to dive towards what looked like a large cluster of Grimm, whooping like the adrenaline junkie she was.

Not that I could blame her, though. I felt a manic grin spread across my own face as I angled towards a nearby pack of Beowolves, pulling out my weapon, Orquestra, as I fell. As I drew it out, its single blade split in two lengthwise, and part of the hilt folded out so that instead of one large machete, I was wielding a two-pronged monstrosity that was best described as a bladed tuning fork.

Yeah, it looked kinda stupid, and not a little impractical, but neither was an issue when both tines of the weapon found themselves embedded into the skull of an Alpha Beowolf. The large Grimm was flattened into the ground by the kinetic force of my fall, and I yanked Orquestra out of its head to turn around to face the remaining Beowolves, who were taken aback by the sudden loss of their leader.

With a flip of a switch, Orquestra split into two, giving me the twin machetes Alto and Baixo. Alto then folded in on itself even further, and the hilt flipped open with a mechanical whir. In a matter of seconds, I went from holding one large tuning fork to dual wielding with a machete in one hand and a large pistol in the other.

I grinned widely as the Grimm snarled, and decided to take the opportunity for a cheeky one-liner as they charged forwards. “How’s it going uglies? My name’s Reseda.” I twirled Alto around my finger before aiming it at the lead Beowolf. “Now thrill me.”

Alto fired, and there was a large CRACK as the Beowolf’s head snapped back and it collapsed bonelessly to the ground, tripping up some of its fellows in the process. My next shots all had similar effects, significantly thinning out the pack of Grimm before they got close enough for melee combat.

Baixo batted aside a set of razor-sharp claws as I sidestepped the first strike, and I used another shot from Alto to kill the Beowolf for its mistake before flipping over another’s pounce. Baixo flashed once, twice, as I carved furrows into its hide, before turning around to blow a hole in the chest of a third.

Eventually, Alto clicked on empty, and I swapped it back to its machete form while Baixo similarly shifted into its own pistol form. Unlike with Alto, though, when I pulled the trigger a stream of fire rounds shot out, carving a burning line into the Beowolves surrounding me. They probably weren’t going to kill, but they bought me enough space to reload both guns before charging back into the fray.

A few minutes of gunplay and bladework later, and all the Grimm were dead and dissolving. A quick check on my Scroll showed that that’d earned me a total of 30 points from this pack, at least ten of which probably came from the Alpha.

“Heads up!” A voice sounded out from nearby, and I ducked just in time for an Ursa to go flying over my head, impacting the nearest tree with a large crack. I turned around to see Yang strolling out of the woods, casually cracking her knuckles under her twin shotgauntlets.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” she said with no remorse whatsoever, “But the big guy over there was a little weaker than I thought.”

I sighed. Yang would be Yang, I suppose. That’s something that wouldn’t change even years later. “No harm done,” I replied as I got to my feet. “Having a good time?” I asked dryly, taking the opportunity to reload Alto and Baixo before combining them back into Orquestra.

“Like you wouldn’t believe!” she exclaimed happily. “The whole entire forest chock-full of Grimm to smash? It’s perfect!”

I was about to make a comment of my own on the matter when motion in the brush caught my attention. “Incoming!” I called out, but by that point it was already a little too late. A Boarbatusk charged its way out of the trees, already in its deadly Sonic-esque Spin Attack. I barely had enough time to get my hand out, feeling the familiar rush of my Semblance responding to the call.

A fraction of a second later, the boar-like Grimm very abruptly slowed down, as if it were trying to charge through molasses. I grimaced at the large drain in Aura as my Semblance worked its magic, slowing the Boarbatusk’s movements to about an eighth of what they were.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to hold it for long. A megaton punch from Yang smashed into the thing from the side, and for a second I almost saw ripples fly through its body like in a bizarre slow-motion video before I canceled my Semblance. The unfortunate Boarbatusk was sent flying into a nearby rock, nearly pulverising it and leaving the Grimm scrabbling to get back up. I quickly charged up and buried Orquestra into its underbelly, and when the Grimm still didn’t die I pulled the trigger sticking out from the hilt. Alto’s barrel, which was hidden between the two tines of the weapon, discharged, and the Boarbatusk finally went limp and dissolved into a black mist.

I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding after that close call, and suddenly a weight rested itself on my shoulder. I looked over to see Yang leaning there with a grin.

“Thanks for the save, Spiky,” she commented. “Really made him  _ spin out _ there, didn’t we?”

I groaned internally at the pun and the atrocious nickname, but outwardly just gave her an appreciative nod. “Nice hit. Want to team up for this?”

Her response was a grin. “Sounds like a plan to me,” Yang said happily. “Just make sure you keep up.” And with that, she ran off towards some loud roars that echoed in the distance, leaving me stumbling from the sudden absence of weight.

“Hey! Yang!” I scrambled after her as best I could as her laughter rang out through the forest. “Wait up dammit!” I don’t know what I expected, I really don’t. Welp, time to go make sure my temporary partner doesn’t get herself killed before canon starts. Just a day in the life for a Support Main, or something.

I shook those thoughts from my head as I followed the trail of destruction, casually slashing through a Beowolf that thought it was being sneaky as I went. Hopefully my time at Beacon wouldn’t be this harrowing.

Ah, who am I kidding, I was doomed from the start. Not that I wanted it any other way, though.

Serra

“Time’s up, pencils down!”

I let the pencil clatter onto the desk from my hands and stretched them out carefully, noting the soreness as I let out a sigh of relief. Around me, other students were letting out similar sighs as the sound of pencils clattering to the ground echoed through the room.

Wow, that was it? That was easier than the SHSATs, although to be fair there was a lot less stuff on this test.

“The written portion of your exam is now completed. Please collect your gear, and meet up in the courtyard for your practical.”

“Yes, Professor Nero!” Everyone got up from their seats, and I followed the flow of students out of the room to get to where my stuff was stashed.

People separated into little friend groups, chatting as they went by, and I spared a few seconds to admire the fact that I couldn’t see anyone panicking over their potential grades -unlike my peers from back then- before going on my way. 

Then again, this was a small combat school meant for people that were either serious about being a Hunter/Huntress but lived too far away to have access to one of the good ones, or naive fuckers trying to play at combat.

I’d stomped my fair share of said naive idiots during spars, but all that really did was make them act like I was the rare exception. Which was a load of bullshit, but whatever. Can’t cure stupidity, and whatever god or gods exist here probably knows that already.

I was one of the first to arrive, a couple of other students already there. Some of them had armor, some of them didn’t, and most of them carried some form of weaponry of decent quality. I myself had two of my chakram in my hands, holding the bladed metal carefully. The rest of them were sitting in either the bag on my back, or the pouch at my hip.

10 minutes later the courtyard was full of anxious students with deadly weaponry, and at that point the teachers probably decided to start the exam because everyone fell silent at the sound of a bell ringing.

“Hello, everyone,” Professor Alastair said as he sat by the aforementioned bell. “If anyone that is meant to take the practical isn’t here, that will be their own fault and will have to try again next year.”

Oh… jeez, kinda harsh. But how’re they gonna keep anyone from coming in late?

As if to answer my question, the walls of the courtyard shot up with the sound of grinding stone, and not 10 seconds later the entire place save for the already-massive wrought iron gates at the entrance were elevated by a good 10 feet or so.

“If anyone can vault this wall in time to make it to the practical if they were late, then they have deserved to take it.” 

Oh, oof. But if you’re late to a damn physical practical that gave you 10 minutes to prep, you can go stuff it.

“Your practical, students, is to last 1 to 3 minutes against me in one on one combat.” Professor Alastair’s polite facial expression took on something much more predatory, and I was suddenly slapped in the face with the realization that this, this must be one of the reasons that the success rate at Oriel Academy was so low despite being an eh school overall. “And I won’t be using my Semblance.”

Ah, fuck. Professor Alastair was the combat teacher for a good damn reason, he was really  _ really _ good with his bisento. It didn’t have any long-range capability, and the professor’s Semblance was out of the question, thankfully. So I would probably be able to last at least 1 minute against him with my own weapons and Semblance.

Professor Alastair brought out his Scroll and swiped a few times before presumably opening a list of names. “Azurite, Serra. You’re first.”

Ah, shit. Ah,  _ shit. _ I don’t even get to see how other people will fare against him- you know what, no need to mourn a lost opportunity. I’ve trained, I’ve prepared, that’ll have to be enough to pass and be able to get to Beacon.

I strode towards him with false confidence, and the students around me parted so that I could get to Professor Alastair easier. When I was within earshot, the man pressed something on his Scroll and walls of glass shot up, separating us from the other students.

“This timer,” Professor Alastair gestured towards the digital clock with a glowing red timer “Will only stop when you either surrender or reach the 3 minute mark. If you are still standing by 1 minute, you automatically pass.”

He then proceeded to chuck the bell over the glass walls, and I would’ve stayed still gaping at it had it not been for the flash of metal catching my eye.

_ Oh shit-! _ I caught the blade through the inside of a chakram, angling it so that it wouldn’t threaten my neck before chucking the other one at Professor Alastair’s kneecaps, a Aura string attached.

He dodged it, swerving to the side and withdrawing the blade before making a series of jabs at my own kneecaps, and I scooted back before yanking on seemingly thin air with my right hand.

The chakram embedded in the ground lurched out and whizzed for Professor Alastair’s neck, who dodged to the side again before doing a wide sweep attack that I countered with the chakram in my left hand.

This really weird game of back and forth continued for what felt like several hours, and I had to remind myself that no, this wasn’t a fight to the death, and I wasn’t in any mortal danger. But man, is that hard to remember while dodging fast as hell strikes while trying to strike back without getting hit once.

Holy crap it’s been a full minute and I haven’t even been hit. Hell yeah, training paid off. But only just barely, because  _ fuck _ was Professor Alastair fast, I barely had any time to react.

A particularly nasty strike made me backflip, chucking the chakram in my hand at his torso and swerving it to match his movement as I landed. Frustratingly, it didn’t hit, and I felt my eyebrow twitch in anger before I realized that I’d let myself be maneuvered into the corner.

Shit. Wait, no, I could still salvage this if I just-

I popped open my pouch and withdrew all of the small chakram I had, attaching numerous strings to each of them before launching them and praying they hit their targets.

Chakram one ricocheted off of one wall and headed for Professor Alastair’s sternum, and was promptly launched into the ground. Chakram two and three were aimed at different body parts, but ultimately met the same fate. Chakram four, five, and six bounced off of several walls before whizzing towards Professor Alastair, and also ate dirt.

Damn, not enough strings.

So naturally, I reached behind me to undo the clasp of the backpack and let the 4 chakram fall into my awaiting palms, attaching truly ridiculous amounts of string to them before letting them fly.

As expected, none of them hit Professor Alastair. But they  _ did _ hit their targets, and I waited until Professor Alastair took a step forward to jab at my face before my hands blazed to life, wreathed in oceanic blues.

All of the thin Aura Strings suddenly became very reinforced, and it became very obvious that my goal hadn’t been to score a hit on the Professor, but to achieve contact with as much surface area possible so that I could create more strings.

I slashed downwards in a X desperately and the strings obeyed, shooting downwards to latch onto his arm and weapon before more of them shot towards his other hand, immobilizing his arms.

I slashed upwards, and strings rose up to entangle the professor’s legs, immobilizing him before bringing my hands close to bring all of the chakram I’d thrown hovering at his neck.

Not a single second had passed before a wave of nausea hit, and I grit my teeth against the strain that the strings were causing me while Professor Alastair fought relentlessly to free himself from my control. Both of us knew that it was only a matter of how much Aura I had left until he broke free, and that if that happened the tables would turn completely.

_ Ding! _

I froze, eyes automatically trailing to the timer. A bright, blinking 0:00 met my eyes.

No. No fucking way. I lasted the entire 3 minutes without being hit with the biggest baby tactics known to man, aka projectiles and running away. I actually made it to minute 3.

“Miss Azurite, you’ve passed, and with flying colors. Your practical is over. Please release me.”

I unconsciously obeyed, the blue of my Semblance flickering away back to its near-invisibility as I gathered all my chakram and put them back where they belonged, the strings restraining Professor Alastair fading away to nothingness.

I barely took two steps out of the makeshift arena before getting swarmed by the other students, and the second a sword got too close to my jugular for my liking, I attached some strings to the courtyard wall and pulled hard, launching myself clear of the students with sharp pointy objects and landing right on the wall itself.

“Jeez, do none of them know to keep their weapons to themselves?” I muttered, stretching out and wincing at the full-body soreness. “Damn, I’ve been slacking off in training. But then again, I don’t usually go for speed training… I’ll have to modify that.”

“Get down here, you coward!” one of the less-bright students hollered, and immediately shirked back when a chakram embedded itself an inch away from his feet.

“Up yours, fucker!” I said, flipping him the bird. “I don’t see you lasting 3 minutes against Professor Alastair without getting hit!”

“You didn’t land a hit either!”

“Well, I passed, and that’s what matters! So fuck off!”

At that point Professor Alastair called out the next name, and I got to watch as people took their own practicals.

It gave me no small amount of pleasure to see the guy that had called me a coward not last to the 1 minute mark because he rushed in like an idiot. Karma, fuckers. But better he fails now than have a gruesome death at the hands of a Grimm.

...oh god I’ve adopted a Aizawa-like mentality. What's next, getting befriended by two loud idiots? Wait, no, the dude’s full posse of friends was 4 people altogether, if I remember right. And one of them bit the dust in a rather gruesome way.

Damn, now I’ve made myself sad. But at least this place doesn’t have some all-powerful person pulling the strings from the shadows. Right? ...Right?

Maxie

The engines howled through my ears as we flew over the small village about a hundred miles east of Beacon. I was super excited to be out and about. Even if it was to fight a small hoard of Grimm. Thankfully it was just Beowulfs, some Ursas Minor, and maybe a Nevermore.  _ Perfect for my entrance exam! _

"Yeah I start school in one week!" I shouted excitedly as I did a backflip of joy! Only to pause in midair as Miss Goodie used her Semblance to stop me.

"Take this seriously, Maximus.' She said as she read a small romance novel. I just kept doing spins as I floated smiling the whole time. “And you haven't passed yet."

"I am, Miss Goodie~ Ozzie always says being calm before battle is the sign of a great Hunter," I said as I tried to swim towards her. She gave a small sigh as I dropped to the ground in a handstand before pushing up and landing headfirst into her lap. Miss Goodie just calmly started scratching my head as she kept reading. _ Yes, head scratch! Never too old for these!  _ I thought in bliss as I closed my eyes, wolf ears wagging in happiness.

Just then, the alarm sounded as we reached our destination. Jumping to my feet I grabbed my massive Punisher Cross-weapon and slung it over my shoulder with ease, grinning from ear to ear. I loved fighting so long as it was what I wanted and it was for a good reason. And oh boy did fighting monsters that feed on negative emotions count for that!

"Party time!" I said slamming the open button for the ship hatch. Behind me Miss Goodie put her novel in a small pouch on her belt before drawing her weapon. I raised my hand and set my countdown clock.

**5:00 Mins**

"Hopefully you won't need it," Miss Goodie said as she set her own. I just looked over my shoulder and shot her a quick grin.

"Then cross your fingers and toes Miss Goodie," I said as I jumped out of the plane. I was only a few hundred feet above the ground as I activated my aura to protect me from wind pressure. Flipping my cross around, I placed my feet on the short side and started riding it like a surfboard….or a skyboard more accurately.

"WOOOHOOOO!!!" I shouted as I saw the horde of Grimm below. Above them I saw a Nevermore leading them.  _ Oh, cool entrance time! _ I turned my Punisher and aimed for the Nevermore. At this speed I was essentially a rocket.

"Heads up Tweety!" I shouted as my one ton cross slammed into the back of its head, sending it crashing to the ground as it embedded itself in its skull. It dropped like the world's angriest rock right in front of the Grimm army. The force of the crash made a deep trench in front of the horde.

All the Grimm came to stop in front of the downed Nevermore. Stepping off I landed on my feet with a small hop. Moving my right hand, I grabbed the center of my cross and using my middle and ring fired a high-powered round through the Nevermore skull. It vanished in the usual disintegrate-y fashion The Grimm around me began to howl and claw at the ground at the sight of the Nevermore being destroyed. Placing a hand on each side of the handle I gave a massive smile as I split the Punisher into two down the middle. 

"....Your turn, guys." I said with a grin as the Grimm charged me. I unleashed pure auto fire on the Beowulfs and Ursa Minor that charged me. The front went down in seconds as I held the Punisher out at shoulder level. After I expanded half my ammo I charged forward and jumped, shooting the ground under me to send me skyward with the recoil!

Grimm howled up at me in rage as they tried to reach. Spinning in the air, I continued my assault. Flipping my right half of Punisher around and catching a grip on the barrel, I slammed it on the head of nearby Beowulf. I then did the same with my left one before landing.

"Who here likes fireworks?!" I shouted, putting the cross back together as I rested the long side against my shoulder and aiming up. I fired a round of Dust mortars into the air that fell all around me, engulfing the Grimm in a hail of fire, lightning, ice and whatever else I stuffed in there. I listened intently around me for any noise.

Just then an air-shattering roar shook the ground as an Alpha Beowulf stepped out of the woods, followed by five others. I looked back at Miss Goodie, who was watching me intently as she floated above the battlefield, ready to jump in at a moment's notice.  _ God, I have the best teacher! _

Leaning the Punisher against my shoulder, I locked eyes with the Alpha and came to a decision. I dropped the Punisher to the ground, watching as the sheer weight of it made a small crater around it. The Alpha, seeing this, gave a roar as its pack rushed me. 

I held up my watch, knowing Miss Goodie did the same to her own. I waited until the last moment, until I could smell the stink of their breath. 

**4:59**

Grabbing two of them by the throat, I slammed them into the other three and watched as they went flying. Squeezing my hands, I felt their necks shatter in my hands and they dissolved into pieces. Kicking off the ground, I slammed a barrage of blows against the body of one of the Beowolves, making sure I always kept the Alpha in my sight. Moving around, I grabbed the Grimm by the waist and suplexed it into the ground, destroying both its spine and the land beneath it. Pivoting, I threw a side kick to the palm of another Beowulf as it swiped at me. Using the force, I jumped back and put the last two and the Alpha in front of me.

**3:47**

_ I got time before Beast. _ I needed to show I could fight within my time limit. I wanted to make my teacher proud! Falling forward, I kicked the ground and unleashed a lariat against one of their throats before reinforcing my hand and stabbing it through its eye. Swaying back, I dodged swipe after swipe from the last regular Beowulf, each one cutting furrows in the ground.

**2:30**

Timing it just right, I stomped hard on its claw, breaking its hand. It howled in pain and tried to bite my head off, only to get a headbutt under the jaw which shattered its teeth. Moving close, I wrapped my arms around it's chest.

"Hugs!" I shouted, crushing its ribs and spine. As it disintegrated, a claw came from behind and stabbed at my chest. I instantly focused my Aura on my chest as I was sent skidding across the ground by the Alpha. I would have kept going if the other Beowulf hadn't body checked me into the ground.

**1:20**

Next thing I knew it was on top of me, and I was stuck either parrying the blows or blocking them.  _ Running out of time! _ Kicking my legs up, I kneed the Beowulf in the butt, knocking it off of me. Hopping on it's back, I began to slam elbow after elbow to it's head before grabbing its upper and lower jaw and pulling in opposite directions.

**:30**

My body began to burn as I checked my clock.  _ Thirty seconds, not gonna make it. _ I looked up at Miss Goodie, and she gave me a small smile as she activated her Semblance. Instantly, numerous trees uprooted themselves and pierced the ground around me and the Alpha, forming a ring around us.  _ She is too good to me. _

**:00**

**-:01**

The Alpha felt a cold wind blow through the field as the Huntsman in front of himt paused. Their burning red hair covered their eyes as they hung their head. Snarling, it charged forward and stabbed at his head, only to pull it back howling in pain. Looking down, half its fingers were gone. The Huntsman had bitten them off.  _ As always, the Beast is brutal,  _ Miss Goodwhich thought from her position as an observer, pulling a canister from her waist as she watched. 

**-:50**

The Beast unleashed a brutal side kick to the knee of the Alpha, breaking it easily. As it fell, the Beast grabbed its left arm and twisted it while swiping the jaw with his own left arm, breaking both. Rearing his head back, the Beast opened his jaws wide, revealing razor-sharp canines. Snapping forward like the animal he was, the Beast sank his fangs deep into the Grim's throat, ripping and tearing away at it with animalistic cruelty.

**-1:45**

Until finally, the Grim vanished. Falling forward and landing on all fours, the Beast gave a long howl, raging at the loss of its prey. A pair of blue slitted eyes locked themselves on Goodwitch. In a flash, the Beast was gone, leaving behind a crater of destroyed earth. Instantly, Goodwitch sent out an omnidirectional blast from her Semblance, catching and stopping everything around her.

Turning around, she saw one metal clawed hand an inch from her face. On Maxie’s own visage was none of the gentleness, none of the kindness, none of the life it usually showed. Right now, all that was left gnashing its teeth at her was the Beast. His Semblance in all its savage fury.

"Well done, Maxie," She said, spraying the contents of the canister in The Beast’s face, applying a concentrated dose of tranquilizer potent enough to put a hundred people to sleep. Struggling against her semblance and the spray, the Beast fought to stay awake before it finally passed out. Lowering them both to the ground, Goodwitch landed in a kneeling position before placing Maxie's head on her lap as she brought his Punisher over next to them. Then she pulled out her scroll to make a call.

"Well? How did he do?" Ozpin asked as he picked up.

"Passed with flying colors. The Beast came out as he was dealing with an Alpha and its pack, but it's under control." She reported, unconsciously stroking Maxie's hair. She couldn't help but notice the small scars across his face and his hands. Knowing there was more under his armor as well as their source made her wish he had left a Grimm for her.

"Such a powerful Semblance. I am thankful at least it is in his hands,” Ozpin sighed. “I will have a full self-serve buffet waiting for him when you get back."

"And cocoa!" Maxie murmured in his sleep, causing Ozpin to chuckle over the call. Goodwitch herself couldn’t resist a small smile of her own.

"And cocoa. Ozpin out."

Aaron

“Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome back to the finals for your one and only Mistral Championship! We’ve seen a lot of good fights this year, but none so much as our two finalists have had to get where they are today! In one corner, we’ve got our very own Invincible Girl, the 3-time Mistral Champion, Pyrrha Nikos!” Out strode a red-haired, green-eyed girl, wearing bronze armor, a shield of the same color, and a red gladius. “And on the other, the up-and-coming Turbo Monk, Aaron Jaspar!” I walked out, a brown-haired, green-eyed young man wearing an orange shirt with a red dragon ampersand and denim pants, a metal staff over my shoulder, and a confident grin on my face. “Both have battled their way through several challengers and stand before you today, ready to claim the coveted victory! Will this be Miss Niko’s fourth victory in a row, or will Mister Jaspar beat the victory out of her grasp, like so many of his other challengers?”

I bowed to Pyrrha from across the floor, calming myself down-- two lives and I still can’t handle crowds-- and prepared to fight a battle I wasn’t entirely sure I could win, but I was going to do my best regardless.

Pyrrha smiled and bowed back, and I felt a pang of memories from the future. I mentally renewed the promise I made to myself that she wouldn’t die and that poor Jaune wouldn’t get the girl just to lose her right after.

“Begin!”

I leapt forward, only momentarily activating my Semblance and going straight in with a yell. She blocked my straight trust and follow-up left kick, and forced me back with a stab of her blade, shifting it immediately into spear form. 

"And Nikos goes on the offensive rather early for this match! Could she be feeling pressured?!" 

I swiped aside a jab with one end and tilted forward slightly to swing the other end of the staff at her head, though she slid out of the way with ease, like it was second-nature. I dived to the side as her weapon shifted into gun form, forcing me to move back out of range. 

"A nice attempt by Jaspar, but the Champion doesn't go down that easily as she forces her opponent back!"

I smirked as her bullets kept me from closing back in.  _ Trying to keep me at range so you don’t have to risk your Semblance getting shown? You really deserve your title, Champion… But… _ I pivoted on the spot and used a small charge of my Semblance again, orange energy crackling over both me and my staff as I reared back and tossed it like a javelin.

Pyrrha got her shield up, but it still pushed her back a few feet. As it did, she was momentarily surprised to hear the crowd shout and barely had time to brace herself as I leaped over the shield and plant a solid punch on the jaw, sending her flying. Yes! A solid hit on the Invincible Girl! 

"Ohhhhh! You could hear that one from the booth! A bold move from Jaspar results in a solid hit on our Invincible Girl!"

The elation of my success was dashed almost immediately when I felt my arm get grabbed and then I was flying-- no, I was falling, and then my back hit the ground, knocking the wind out of me.

"And Nikos answers back instantly, slamming the Monk to the ground in what i would call a Turbo Toss!"

Feeling a chill on my back, I quickly rolled away just as Pyyrha stabbed at me with the butt of her spear. I quickly spun my body like a top as I tried to sweep Pyrrha’s legs, only to get blocked by her shield right on the shin.  _ Oh God, the bad spot! _ I groaned, clutching at my knee as I rolled around in pain, much to the crowd's amusement. 

"Sorry,” my sweet but  _ very deadly _ opponent said sheepishly, taking a step back as she waited for me to recover. “Are you able to keep going?"

I growled lightly and flipped to my feet as my Aura healed my knee up in a few seconds, then slammed my staff into the ground. Kneeling into a runner’s stance, I channeled the last of my Semblance and shot forward, launching a fast set of kicks and punches, followed up by a flurry of elbow- and knee-strikes. 

She avoided most of them by either blocking with her shield or by barely dodging out of the way, and only the last one connected to send her skidding back. As she did, though, she got a solid hit on my side with her gladius to send me staggering away.

“And it’s an all-out assault from Jaspar, but Nikos expertly turns almost all of it aside! The Invincible Girl has the clear advantage in this fight, but our challenger is not out of this just yet!”

A quick glance to the side told me that Pyrrha was very clearly ahead in Aura. Mine was firmly in the yellow, while hers had only dipped a few points down from full.  _ But, just because she has more Aura, more experience, better gear, better skills, I can… this was a terrible decision, _ I realised as I charged the Female Achilles. Using the reach of my staff, I struck from my maximum range, only to find myself stymied each time by Pyrrha’s defense.

"Shields! Are! Such! A! Pain!" I grunted with each slam of the staff against her shield. Taking a few steps back, I went for a running stab at her, but as she brought up her shield I immediately changed my target to the floor. With a shout of effort, I planted my staff and vaulted over her, twisting to slam my staff against her undefended back and send her flying with a cry of pain.

“And a masterful bit of misdirection from Jaspar gives him a second blow against Nikos! I don’t care what kingdom you’re from, that one’s gotta hurt!”

By the time I was able to go for a follow up blow she had already recovered. I desperately swung at her head, hoping to disorient her at least a little bit to keep an assault going, but all of a sudden I felt some unseen force tug at the end of my staff, and it whooshed right over her head. For the briefest moment, I could make out a grayish black aura surrounding her hand before the realization hit. _ Oh right. Superpowers. _

Pyrrha dropped low, and I stumbled as her spear slammed into my legs. As I staggered back to try and recover, my face was suddenly full of bronze as a heavy shield bash sent me flying. I rolled back to my feet, before staggering and falling to a knee as my vision spun. 

And then the bell rang.

“After a blistering combo, Jaspar’s Aura has fallen into the red!” the announcer declared. “The winner, and your four-time Mistral Champion, is the one and only Invincible Girl, Pyrrha Nikos!”

I looked up to see Pyrrha offering me a hand and a smile. After taking the hand and getting pulled up, I shook it and then raised Pyrrha’s hand to the sky.

_ I swear Pyrrha, you will live a long life. And then, when you're 60 and half-blind, we’re gonna have a rematch, _ I thought with a smile as the stadium erupted in cheers around us.  _ It will be such a shame when you lose in front of yours and Jaune's kids and grandkids. _

Ozpin (Applications)

Ozpin sipped from his coffee mug, feeling the caffeine fuel him.  _ Being around for the creation of coffee is easily one of the highlights of my many lives _ , he mused. The moon was full against the clear night sky, giving him plenty of light to read with as he finished up some extra bits of paperwork for the night. 

"Now then, who’s first?" He said to himself as he took an application from the 'interesting' pile.

"Serra Azurite, hmmm? Promising, promising. But does she think I don't know the truth? Accepted. Hopefully she can contain her...outings," he muttered with a smile as he stamped the form.  _ I can't say I haven't had my share, _ he thought wryly while taking a bite from a nearby sandwich Maxie had made for him. The young Faunus had used leftovers from the buffet as a thank-you gesture, and it had come out deliciously.

"Grilled fish, shrimp, with a light dusting of green peppers. The lad’s figured out what I like. Now, onto the next one. Reseda Antem… Rare to see the child of a celebrity such as this one aiming for our profession. A recent Signal graduate, too, with such high academic marks. Accepted. We’ll see how he fares under Beacon’s more rigorous curriculum.” And with another stamp one more was added to the accepted pile.

"Aaron Jaspar... Put up a good fight against the Invincible Girl... not bad. Accepted... despite graduating combat school a year ago. I wonder what he's been up to… Let's keep an eye on him during the initiation test." At this moment Ozpin couldn’t help but notice a pair of red wolf ears sticking out from a semi open door. He just gave a small smile. _ Many things you may be, Maxie, but stealthy is not one of them. _

“Yes, Maxie, you’re accepted too. Perhaps you might even graduate before having experienced the wonders of coffee.” 

“Coffee is evil and thanks Ozzie!” was his response, as a series of footsteps hurriedly made their way off towards the Beacon Tower elevator, probably to inform Glynda of the news. Ozpin smiled fondly at the happiness of his youngest student.

_ It’s heartening that he’s able to be so happy, with a past like his, _ he thought, his expression storming over briefly. If there were any other beings in the room, they’d have felt a near-imperceptible amount of pressure settle over them.  _ The Roja clan had better hope that I do not find any meaningful break from my responsibilities in the next few years. _

Banishing the dark thoughts with another sip of coffee, Ozpin turned back to the pile of documents in front of him. “This coming year has several interesting prospects,” he commented to himself. “I wonder what the future will hold for these young Huntsmen…” 

Then another interesting application caught his eye, for very different reasons. “Hm… Jaune Arc? How interesting…” 

**-o-**

Serra froze, pen stilling as a chill swept over her. “...Something just happened,” she muttered to herself. “Not bad, but… not exactly good, either. Did someone find out? Nah, can’t have been, I’d feel more panicked than just this…” Eventually she went back to writing things out, but Serra couldn’t shake the feeling of unease.


	2. Welcome to Beacon

**Chapter 1: Welcome to Beacon**

Maxie

"Now, let's see… I should put the sleeping bags over here in a pyramid for people to pick up. Oh, and the sandwich station should go over there. Got to get to work on those… They’ll go nicely with the cocoa and the…  _ coffee _ ,” I grimaced at the word before I continued planning out what to put where in the ballroom. “And I should put the bookcase and small flashlights over here for anyone who wants to read late-night."

"Maxie, what are you doing?" Miss Goodie asked as she appeared at the room’s entrance. Looking up at her, I gave a quick grin before jogging over to the pieces of furniture I’d brought over.

"Oh, just setting up for the sleepover tonight,” I said happily as I pushed the bookcase and tables around. “No matter what happens, I want them to have good memories of their time here." Miss Goodwitch’s expression softened before her eyes narrowed as something occurred to her.

"You didn't sleep at all last night, did you?" she asked, crossing her arms and giving me the  _ Look _ . I flinched.  _ Think quickly, Maxie! _

"I did too," I replied, moving over to build a sleeping bag pyramid in the center of the room in an effort to leave it at that. Then all of the sleeping bags started to glow purple, closing together and forming into the pile in an instant. 

"How long?" she asked, and I could feel more than hear her tapping her foot as she waited. I resisted as long as possible before crumbling under the pressure.

"Ummmm, thirty minutes?" I chuckled nervously. Next thing I knew, I was floating in front of Professor Goodwitch, who was glaring at me angrily.

"Nap. Now,” she demanded sharply. “You have five hours until the assembly. You are sleeping until then."

"But, I still have to make the sandwiches and fill the bookshelf!” I protested. I did  _ not _ whine, no matter what anyone said.

"We have the kitchen staff making sandwiches and I am going to provide books from my personal collection," Goodwitch countered, setting me down next to her. Hearing this, I gave a loud groan.

"But those books are boring, and for ol–” I cut myself off as an aura of  _ death _ settled. “Matured women of a refined palate for high literature,” I corrected, smiling nervously as sweat trickled down my face. Giving her a quick hug, I decided to make a break for my room. “See you in five hours!" I shouted down the hallway.

"No running!" She shouted after me, causing me to come to a skidding stop at an intersection in the hallway. Just then, Ozpin came walking down the hall to my left.

"Oh, Maxie, good. I wished to discuss some matters with you," he said, ever-present coffee and cane in his hands. Sticking my hands in my jacket pockets, I fell into step beside him as we walked down the hallway.

"Let me guess, you're gonna make me a Maiden and give me the legendary Sword of Unicron," I joked, giving a small chuckle. Ozzie chuckled along with me before responding.

"No. Not today. But speaking of maidens, I did meet Miss Rose last night. She was exactly as you described," he said, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Yes, sir. Ruby Rose: a bundle of sunshine and a dash of crazy all wrapped up in a red cloak." I laughed, skipping slightly out of happiness.

"And she has silver eyes… just like her mother," Ozzie mused, taking another sip of coffee as he started to look wistful. _Nope, no brooding on this allowed_ , I thought, giving my new Headmaster a swift palm smack to the shoulders and making him stumble slightly.

"No brooding. We have a chance to make things right here, and we’re not gonna mess it up, Ozzie,” I told him, grinning with a happiness I didn't feel and determination in both my voice and eyes. “Now I am gonna go take my nap. See you at the assembly." 

"And what about her? Don’t you wanna see old friends?" Ozzie asked me as I walked away.

"She’s in a tense situation regarding her past right now, so I’m not gonna approach her about it at the moment. Not unless she approaches me first,” I said, waving a hand in the air as I kept walking. “Besides, it has been nearly six years. She probably doesn't even remember me."

_ That being said, I hope the arrivals like the decorations I put out. _

Reseda

“Yes, Dad, I’m sure I’ve got all my stuff, including the new combat gear,” I said into the Scroll. “If I need anything else, I’ll make sure to call. Let everyone know I said good luck with the tour. Alright, love you too. Bye.” I ended the call with a sigh. My parents were great, and I did really love them, but they were a little  _ much _ sometimes. 

Not that I could blame them. I hadn’t taken the influx of past-life memories particularly well when they’d shown up at my tenth birthday. Any self-respecting set of parents would have been concerned at their ten-year-old son suffering from what probably looked like a simultaneous panic attack and seizure, followed by a brief coma and about a year of rehab which, by the way, included a complete failure of dexterity as I adjusted to being a twenty-plus-year-old man in a child’s body.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat as the Bullhead doors closed, and the ship lifted off. Usually I wouldn’t have any problems with vehicle rides, even in a plane-helicopter-gunship thing like a Bullhead, but the crowd wasn’t helping matters much. Beacon may have had several of the things at work, but even so, the ship was packed almost to full capacity as is with everything from graduating seniors to brand-new students like myself. 

I didn’t like it. 

Even in my past life (and man did that never stop feeling weird to say) I didn’t like being around lots of people, and this life didn’t do much to remove that tendency. As a matter of fact, it only really reinforced it, because being the son of a public figure, let alone a group of public figures, really really sucked.

But that was enough brooding on that for now. It was just something to deal with, and I’d already learned how to do that. A quick swipe on my Scroll pulled up one of the audiobooks that I’d found recently, the familiar yet altered tale of a young girl training to become the first female Hunter in her kingdom. I slipped on a pair of headphones, relaxing in my seat and closing my eyes as the story resumed from where I’d left it. 

It was almost enough to drown out the excited talking from Yang, who was seated nearby with a small, red-cloaked girl who must’ve been her sister Ruby, as well as the muffled retching noises coming from nearby. I did my best to tune out what noise got through, since there’d be plenty of time to play Meet the Protagonist later. Right now, I had a book to finish listening to.

Serra

“Yeah, guys, I’ll be okay, there’s no need to try and wreck anything while I’m at Beacon,” I sighed into my Scroll, eyeing the doors of the airship warily. Man, I hate airships. “Yeah, love you too. Bye.” I ended the call and reluctantly smiled at the screen. My parents were great, and I actually loved them, which came as a big surprise after I’d gotten my memories back at a measly age of friggin’ _ 10. _

Suffice to say, I was really really glad they’d been off taking care of Azurite Transport Company business, because that meant no one but me was there to witness my simultaneous activation of my Semblance and panic attack. Who knew Aura strings could cause so much damage? I was lucky that there wasn’t any Dust around me, or else things would have been worse.

Well, at least I didn’t fuck over my own plans before I’d regained those memories. The fact that I’ve lived longer in Remnant than I’d lived in my past life was enough of a headache, thank you. 

The airship doors closed, and it lifted off. I ignored the way my senses screamed at me to get out of the enclosed space before putting on my headphones and pressing play on a playlist, relaxing minutely in my seat as the soft piano started to play. Man, going out at night really made me more paranoid, huh.

Some poor dude was visibly not coping well with the flight, but I ignored it. After all, there wasn’t really anything I could do about it, and it wasn’t my problem.

Aaron

It’s a good thing I loved flying. I had to fight down my old life’s phantom need to vomit every time someone got too close, and it was starting to annoy me. I had taken to staring out the window and ignoring the great crowd. And then, of course, I heard retching.  _ Poor person. Better check on… them… _ As I turned, I had gotten a good look at blonde hair, white armor, and a sheathed sword.  _ Jaune.  _ Oh crap, I was on the Bullhead with… yup, there was Yang and Ruby… damn, she really was smol.

As I walked over to comfort Jaune, my gaze fell on someone I didn’t remember seeing in the show. He didn’t seem very tall, more average height, with spiky black hair and what looked like a forest green pair of pants and a suit vest over a white button-down, tie included. Was he a side character that Rooster Teeth hadn’t animated? Must be, since he looked for all intents and purposes dead to the world, closed eyes and headphones included. It was a bit weird for the first few days in Vale, seeing places full of people, when the show mainly had just been black outlines. Oh well, better make sure Jaune doesn’t get an unflattering nickname.

I walked over and tapped the technically illegal student on the back, holding out a bottle of ginger ale. “Here. Small sips, breathe and relax. Lay down if you need to.” That was what Mom said for motion sickness, right? As the son of a nurse, you would think I’d remember this better…

As Jaune got settled, I was about to walk over and introduce myself to Yang and Ruby when I both heard and saw her start bouncing up and down as we finally arrived at Beacon. No words could do this marvel of a campus justice. It was a city all on its own, and it was  _ gigantic.  _ And, sadly, one thought trumped all the others as we landed. __

_ I don’t think I can keep it from falling... _

The landing was smooth and untroubled for the small fleet of Bullheads tasked with delivering Beacon’s students, and the doors slid open to allow the flood of students to stream out. The older years dispersed quickly, easily finding the ways to their dorms and catching up with friends and teammates after several months apart.

The first years, on the other hand, ended up milling about in a bit of confusion, with the exception of one blond young man who fetched himself up against the railing, groaning piteously as he resisted the urge to vomit. Another young man with an orange shirt and a metal staff slung across his back stood next to him, rubbing circles into his back in an effort to help. The majority of students, though, were transfixed by the majesty of Beacon Academy, and slowly made their way towards the auditorium, led by some of the older students and faculty members who’d volunteered as guides.

Ruby Rose, however, didn’t care much about any of that. She was far more interested in the sheer variety of weapons that she could make out.

“Oh my god, Yang, that’s a pair of tonfa-pistols! And a collapsible LMG-baton!” The excitable red-cloaked reaper was almost vibrating in excitement as she hugged her sister’s arm. “Ooooh, and that’s a shotgun-battleaxe! And a folding trident-battle rifle? That. Is. Awesome!”

Yang grinned, ruffling her younger sister’s hair with her free hand. “That’s great, Rubes,” she said fondly, tactfully ignoring her sounds of protest, “But shouldn’t you be looking at the people instead of the weapons? Or at all these decorations! Is that supposed to be a walrus?" Yang’s question got sidetracked as she took in the numerous balloon animals strung up along the path. Hanging from a hastily made balloon arch was a giant sign that read “Welcome” in what seemed to be every color imaginable.

"I think it's nice. Such pretty animals,” Ruby said, before shrinking a bit as she answered the original question. “And weapons are kinda better than people, you know?" Yang just gave a shake of her head as she tugged Ruby's hood up, covering her eyes. 

“Have you even tried making friends?” the blonde brawler asked her little sister as Ruby sputtered and pulled away to escape the teasing.

“Why would I make friends when I have you?” she asked innocently.

Yang froze momentarily, but caught herself quickly. “Weeell, actually,” she drawled slowly, before the rest of her sentence rushed out. “Myfriendsareherenowokbye!” And with that, she dashed off, leaving Ruby spinning and disoriented. 

A small sound of distress escaped her mouth as the Huntress-in-training regained her bearings and realized that she’d been effectively abandoned by her sister. “Dangit, Yang.”

Serra

“This place is massive,” I muttered underneath my breath as I walked along the, frankly, overkill path. “How the hell can I memorize the layout in a timely manner? There’s no way.”

Well, at least I don’t really plan on going out anytime soon. That’s something, at least. This place is fucking huge, there’s a 100% chance I get lost.

I fiddled with a small vial of Wind Dust, tossing it from hand to hand. I’d snagged a smaller container to put it in from the storage areas in the company headquarters, since a big container would be pretty useless.

The Azure Transport Company used to be a Dust-based one, but with the Schnee Dust Company being the absolutely unfair monopoly that it was, Dad was considering switching over to being transport-based, hence the recent name change. It was still Dust-based for now, since Dad wanted to give the employees time to adjust, so I still had ready access to lots of different types of Dust.

That didn’t mean I wasn’t stockpiling it for the eventual complete shift, though. Or maybe Dad would just make it a partial shift, since the Azure Dust Company quarries were full of people that really needed the job. Yeah, probably a partial shift, since Dad wouldn’t shaft those people on their jobs. He’s not that type of person.

I heard someone talking loudly through my music, and I looked around for the source until I spotted a small girl in a red cloak and a blond bearing gauntlets.

Huh, they both looked pretty cool- was that a scythe? Oh, that was awesome, but also how? It popped up from nowhere?

I’m gonna chalk that up to anime logic and leave it at that.

The blond one ran off extremely fast with a crowd of people, somehow spinning the cloak-wearing girl around in multiple circles before she landed straight onto a trolley and scattered several white briefcases.

I did a double-take at the cases. Wha- those looked like the personal Dust cases that I used sometimes! Pure white instead of light grey and a lot more than I used, but still. Who-

Then I saw Weiss Schnee and immediately knew that the briefcases belonged to her. Lemme guess, filled to the brim with Dust- yup, there she goes pulling out a bottle while berating the poor girl.

Wait-- shit, why was Dust leaking out? Who the fuck made those vials?  _ Red Dust?! _

I immediately activated my Semblance, strings racing out of my fingers to pull back the girl that was about to sneeze, and lifted her into the air via her arms.

That spared the Schnee heiress from getting a facefull of -hopefully- weak explosions, although the sudden action “accidentally” smacked the bottle out of her hands and into a waiting string.

“You gotta be careful handling Dust, you know,” I sighed, carefully setting the red-cloaked girl back down onto the ground and taking the vial to get a closer look. “That stuff explodes way too easily. Hey, who made this bottle? I know it’s got the Schnee Dust Company logo on it and all, but no container for Dust should leak even a little bit, that’s a safety hazard.”

“And who are you to say that?” Weiss Schnee shot back haughtily, and my eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

“Ever heard of the Azurite Company? They might have changed the name because they plan on partially switching what they cater to, but I’m not so stupid to not know after dealing with Dust my entire life as the daughter of its owner.” I shook the container a few times, and sure enough tiny amounts of Fire Dust came out. “You’re lucky that the briefcases themselves didn’t go up in a massive explosion, yeah, but this can be even more dangerous in the right scenarios. So, who the hell are the Schnee Dust Company outsourcing the creation of their containers to if they’re so unsafe? And if they create them themselves, why are they so dangerous when they’re in charge of the production?”

At this point, Weiss was reduced to gaping slightly at me, and I reminded myself that the patriarch of the Schnee family most definitely didn’t care about the safety of it’s workers, and that reflected the company as a whole. “You know what, lemme just…”

I took out an empty container that I used to collect spare Dust that I found lying around and carefully uncorked both containers, slowly pouring the Fire Dust into the bigger bottle. Once that was done, I re-corked the now-quarter full bottle and took out a matchbox, strings taking the previous container far away from me and settling it onto the ground. “Just in case.”

I struck a match and dropped it into the bottle, and watched the subsequent flames with satisfaction. The light reflected off of the pendant I was wearing and made my grey hoodie smell like smoke, but that was trivial.

The bottle itself didn’t explode, there wasn’t enough Dust for that, but there was enough that a funnel of flames lasted for a good 15 seconds or so before all that was left was the smoking match barely visible in the blackened bottle.

“I love doing that to used Fire Dust containers,” I said cheerfully. “We don’t use the Fire Dust containers for anything but Fire Dust, so when we retire a container I get to set the remaining Dust on fire.”

Fuck good first impressions, because if this was how the Schnee heiress acted normally then I wouldn’t give her a good first impression either. I do feel kinda bad for the red-cloak girl, though, my Semblance was jarring to anyone not used to the sensation of their limbs being jerked into the air and then being held in the air by seemingly nothing. 

I directed the bottle back into Weiss Schnee’s hands and turned to leave before someone else spoke up.

"Thank you," I heard the small girl say behind me.

“No problem.” I glanced to the side to make sure she really was okay before turning to go on my way.

"At least someone knows their Dust," the Schnee scoffed before walking away, and I resisted the urge to turn right back around and flip her off. 

Maxie

"This is what I get for forgetting to take my medicine," I muttered to myself as I sat in the cell constructed by my dreams. I could barely hear the Beast prowling around outside, just out of sight save for those burning red eyes of hunger and hate.

"You know, most people who lucid dream have some measure of control,” I said conversationally to the representation of the Beast pacing around me. “I mean, I  _ am _ glad Ozzie taught me how to do this, but you always being here is kind of more of a pain.," I said, scratching my head as the Beast howled. Focusing like Ozpin had taught me, I conjured up a large chunk of meat for the Beast and a training doll for me. Slam, crush, gouge, kick, punch, claw, and break. On and on I attacked the doll remembering every lesson my…  _ family…  _ inflicted on me. Meanwhile, the Beast outside roared happily as it tore into the meat.

"You know,” I sighed once the doll was torn up beyond recognition, “We are getting a team soon. And no, I have no plans on being with JNPR or RWBY,” I told the Beast as the doll reformed itself. Hearing this, it growled in anger before I followed up with an explanation. “We have no place on those teams and you know it. Besides, you gotta trust the judgement of an ancient Wizard. Although, I kinda wish we had watched the full volumes instead of clips and music videos past volume 3."

The memory of Pyrrha's death scene surged to the forefront, and brought forth a snarl of rage as I put my fist through the doll. The Beast huffed, seeming to enjoy my anger, but then it snarled as it saw what I’d conjured to fight.

"Yeah I know. But we need to be ready," I said, getting into my stance and lunging at the target, but everything turned white right before I made contact. The next thing I knew, all I saw was the ceiling of my room.

"Guess I’m not there yet huh?” I sighed, resting my arm over my face. Curious, I looked down and laughed as I realised I was in my underwear. “Why does my sleeping self hate clothes?" I wondered absently as I sat up, quickly checking the time on my Scroll.

"Huh, the Assembly starts in a few minutes. Nice," I yawned as I laid back down. The second after what I said actually registered, I was out the door repeating “Crap, crap, crap!” as I hauled tail to the assembly hall. Before running back and grabbing some clothes.

Aaron

I decided to stand near the back of the hall, both to keep an eye out for as many people as I could recognize, and to stay away from the main bulk.

_ Now, let’s see… I can see Coco and Velvet over there, there’s Yang and Ruby, and… Weiss, and they’re not arguing?! The fuck happened? Oh, and who’s that kid?  _ Not far from Weiss, there was a short figure in a grey hoodie, I couldn’t see much past the hood, but I did spot a glimpse of black hair over the edge when they moved their head around. 

My people watching was suddenly interrupted by a loud cough, and I turned my attention back to the front as Ozpin stepped up to the mic.

“I’ll… keep this brief. You have travelled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And, when you have finished–” About this point, a young dog faunus with scarlet red hair, wearing blue pants, and carrying his grey jacket and shirt over his shoulder ran in, putting his…  _ rather interesting _ scars on display. He froze slightly and gave a wolfish grin to the crowd.

“I'm not late!!! I mean, err, welcome to Beacon! I’m Maxie!” he said with a smile.

“Maxie, you’re finally starting?” yelled one of the older students in the crowd. I could swear I heard Miss Goodwitch sigh.

_ Maxie?! What are the chances? I mean, it could just be a coincidence… I’ll test something later. _

Before Maxie could answer however, Ozpin cleared his throat. “Thank you for joining us, Maxie. Now, if I may continue?”

“Oh, uh… Sure thing, Ozz– er, Professor Ozpin!” Maxie said, throwing his shirt on as he hopped down from the stage and ran over to what looked like Team CFVY, who all began to pat him on the back and generally shower him in affection.

Ozpin readjusted his glasses. “And once you have finished here, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look among you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose… direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will only prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. But always remember no matter what time may pass when you stop learning, when you stop trusting, and when you think you have seen it all, that is when you are indeed a fool. For knowledge and experience are worthless when you’re all alone. And, as always, all you have to do is take the first step.”

_ Wait, but that wasn’t how the canon speech went… What is even going on? _

Before I could really freak out though, Goodwitch stepped up to the mic as Ozpin walked away. “You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed.”

_ Well, no time like the present. _ I walked through the crowd, easily making my way through to the dog Faunus from earlier, and wow, he was tall as hell!  _ I think he’s taller than I was in my old life! _ I got close and spoke out loud, “You know, NemSI was a really good idea.”

Next thing I knew, I was flat on my back with a happy Faunus on top of me.

"Umm Maxie, we have told you, please don’t hug random strangers," a rabbit Faunus who could only have been Velvet spoke up from nearby. 

“Oh, well… This is my Dad!!” Several people froze nearby and I let out a quiet groan.

“Err, I- I can explain?”

Reseda

Beacon was not quite what I expected based on my admittedly vague memories of the show. For one thing, the balloon animals were definitely not a part of canon, neither was the half-naked guy named Maxie nor the commotion he caused by tackle-hugging one of the other first-year students. 

I steered very clear of that whole series of events, since it was happening relatively far away from where I remembered seeing the future team RWBY was sitting. Or more accurately, where Ruby and Yang were trying (and not quite succeeding) at talking to, er… Blake, that was her name, next to a large bookshelf under one of the few reading lights that were still lit at this hour. And there was the blonde guy from JNPR, John, I think he was? The bunny onesie guy who I heard having a bad experience on the flight over.

I started weaving my way through the groups of students settling in, trying to make my way towards them and at least introducing myself, but by the time I got there Ruby and Yang were already in their little cartoon ball of violence. Somewhat inconvenient, but I could adapt accordingly. I snuck my way over to where Blake was trying her best to ignore the scuffle, and at that point I was close enough to make out the cover of her book.  _ Whelp, human interaction therapy don’t fail me now, _ I thought to myself before taking the plunge and starting off the game of Meet the Protagonist.

“Excuse me,” I began, getting a slightly annoyed look from Blake. “I don’t want to bother you, but is that one of the Two Souls books?”

Thankfully, that was the right thing to ask, as Blake’s expression softened and she showed me the front cover. “Yes, the third one.”

“Oh, they released a third one? I didn’t hear about that,” I replied, sitting down next to her and tactfully ignoring the sounds of yelling and general tomfoolery from nearby. “Has Oswald found the spirit’s old teacher yet? I hate how they left that point dangling through the entire second book, and didn’t even resolve it at the end beyond a ‘maybe they’re over here’ type of hook.”

The good-natured roll of the eyes told me all that I needed to know on that front. “No, they’re still searching so far,” Blake replied. “Honestly, if Oswald’s party stopped getting side-tracked by every little thing they’d have found his teacher halfway through Book One.”

“To be fair, side quests have a habit of popping out of the woodworks no matter the genre,” a new voice added sarcastically, and I turned around to see a small figure a seat or two away. Upon closer examination, she was a relatively small girl with short black hair, wearing an unzipped grey hoodie over a blue shirt. “Whenever I check out different books, there’s always at least one side quest that happens for either semi-plot related reasons, or for no reason at all.” She shifted a bit, and I spotted a crystalline pendant bearing two dragons hanging from her neck.

“I mean, I guess it’s a bit true to life, where things just happen and you get distracted, but it does feel an awful lot like just padding out the runtime,” I shrugged, before realizing something important. “By the way, I don’t think I introduced myself,” I grinned sheepishly, offering a handshake. “I’m Reseda, it’s nice to meet you.” 

Blake stared at the hand for a second before going ahead and shaking. “Blake,” she replied curtly, though not impolitely. The other girl did much the same, introducing herself as Serra. I was just about to continue our discussion when the yelling nearby abruptly increased in volume, making me jump in surprise and turn around.

It’s worth noting at this point that the commotion over by that Maxie guy had more or less dispersed. On the other hand, Ruby and Yang hadn’t quite slowed down with their little sibling scuffle, which Blake, Serra, and I had done our best to ignore. 

"I brought sandwiches!" Speaking of, Maxie barged into the room carrying a massive platter of sandwiches, and he was even clothed this time. Unfortunately, he ended up running right into the path of the scuffle. The results were not very difficult to imagine.

As bodies and sandwich materials tumbled through the air, Blake had clearly decided enough was enough and switched off the lamp, plunging the room into darkness and essentially shutting down any remaining chances for conversation. 

“You’re fucking kidding me,” Serra sighed. “Really, Blake?” Strings of glowing blue came out of her palm, intertwining and shaping into a weird tree-lamp of sorts that towered about her head and lit up the area around us. The pendant that I’d noticed before reflected the light extremely well, providing a cool-looking glow.

Scrolls started lighting up too, providing enough light for everyone to make their way back to their own sleeping bags. I didn’t need mine, though, since my night vision was good enough to find my way through the bits of sandwich lying about and make it back to where I’d left my stuff. 

I sat on the sleeping bag for a while after most of the lights had gone out, including Serra’s rather impressive display of what must have been her Semblance, deep in thought. Or, well, mostly just fighting down nerves. Initiation was tomorrow, after all, and if I wanted the chance to get anything done here, this’d be the first real hurdle to overcome.

Eventually, sensibility won out, and I got myself ready to actually sleep the rest of the night. Gotta be well rested, after all. Tomorrow’s the big day.

Ozpin's Office

The Headmaster of Beacon quietly looked down at the ballroom, his face a mask of deep thought as he reread the text Maxie had sent him after the assembly.

"So I found someone from my old world, will introduce them after the test. Pleasant dreams Ozzie xD. Woohoo! I am not alone!" Ozpin wished he could be happy for the young Faunus, but right now that one line gnawed at his mind.

"How many more are here, then?" he wondered. He had a pretty good idea on who it was that Maxie had found, since the commotion between him and Aaron was far from unnoticeable. It was heartening that the young man had found an old friend, at least, but if there were others who had these memories from a past life… This year’s initiation would have to be watched much more closely, it would seem, with all of these promising young prospects.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 1 is done, and our intrepid adventurers have arrived at Beacon! Feel free to let us know what you think!


	3. Initiating Initiation

**Chapter 2: Initiating Initiation**

Aaron

It had taken quite a while to get the older students to leave Maxie and I be—and get certain ones to stop threatening me with bodily harm—but we had spent the last hour or so catching up and figuring out everything that had happened. It amused me that even in this universe, Maxie was the youngest student at 15, a month younger than Ruby at that, and had gotten his memories back at 8, instead of 10 like me. Eventually, we had fallen asleep after the light display that came from Blake shutting off the lights later that night.

“Alan! Alan!” 

Yawning, I cracked my eyes open and looked over to see a Velociraptor face just inches from my own. I  _ did not scream,  _ though I did jump up, startled… until I saw Maxie take the mask off and fall over in a valiant attempt at muffling his laughter.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, Kiddo,” I said, keeping my voice low as I pulled on my armor and started getting ready for the day. “So, how on track for canon are we? How much did you change while you were here?”

"I told Ozpin about Cinder, about Pyrrha, about knowing he’s an Ancient Wizard, him dying, so he got a lot more open with Qrow and the others, clawed out Adam's eye before I escaped the White Fang and introduced the wonders of cocoa. Oh, and I have told him about Ruby's anti-Grimm Sharingan," he listed, counting off with his fingers as my jaw dropped further with each line.

“So, basically, we’re nowhere near canon at this point?” I asked faintly. Damn, Maxie's been busy! 

"Oh no, we are still near canon. Just more serpentine-ing through it,” he explained with a wide grin as he hopped to his feet and finished off a glass of milk he had picked up at some point. “Sorry Dad, but I gotta do my morning training. Four a.m is the perfect time for it!"

Why? Why would he wake up so early? I looked around and saw the students around me still sleeping in their bags before sighing despondently and falling back into the sleeping bag. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Maxie hopping and skipping over sleeping bodies, occasionally moving a blanket or pillow back into place for them.

Then someone else sat up in their sleeping bag, and a few seconds passed before they opened up their hands and light started pouring out.

Serra

After what felt like the millionth sound that was just loud enough to jar me from my sleep, I sat up in the sleeping bag and sighed.

I’d always had trouble sleeping in new places, but this was just ridiculous. The fact that students were pretty loud when there were a lot of them in one place didn’t help. What time was it even-? No I don’t wanna know, that’ll make it harder to go back to sleep.

Instead, I held out both of my palms and concentrated on my Semblance, making Aura strings pour out of them and form the tree that I’d made earlier. It glowed a soft blue, extending above my head for a good foot or so until it tapered off. You could barely see the individual strings if they were clumped together in one spot.

I got a stupid idea and started adding more and more strings, building on the tree until it extended to cover maybe a quarter or so of the ballroom starting from where I was. I added some flowers just because it looked cool, and sat back to look at my work.

The tree was low-hanging because I didn’t feel like using up so much Aura in making it hit the ceiling of the ballroom, and it resembled a wisteria tree. Some of the hanging ‘flowers’ bore small globular lanterns on the ends, providing better light. I sat there and admired it for a good 5 minutes.

"Oh wow, that's amazing!" a voice shouted right next to my face, and I reacted by slapping strings across the orange-haired girl’s face and flinging her right into the tree. Another set of them wrapped around her mouth, muffling whatever it was she was going to say next.

After a few seconds what I’d just done registered in my head, and I sighed. “Did I really just… nevermind. Don’t yell, people are sleeping,” I told her in a low voice before undoing the strings keeping her from talking.

"That was amazing! Do it again! Do it again!" she started whispering, eyes seeming to sparkle before a tall guy with a pink stripe in his hair suddenly walked up and stuffed a pancake in her mouth.

"Sorry about that, Nora is… Nora,” he said, bowing lightly. Nora's cheeks were literally glowing as she chewed on the pancake.

“Nah, it’s okay, I’m probably not gonna be able to get any sleep even with draining my Aura to exhaust myself,” I muttered, extending the tree more. “Man, why do I have to be like this…” I could feel the effects of using so much Aura, but for some reason I didn’t feel tired yet.

It was probably the presence of so many people on top of being in a new place. I was used to sleeping alone in a hammock on the second floor of the house, with no one else on the floor because Mom and Dad were usually off doing Azurite Company business. Not being in a massive room in a sleeping bag, with so many other people around my age nearby and the very large chance that I could get jumped at any point. Realistically, I knew that probably wouldn’t happen, but instincts are a bitch.

"If I may?" the dude asked before placing a hand on my shoulder.

“Uh… sure?” Whatever he was gonna do probably wouldn’t harm me since this was in Beacon and I didn’t doubt that some of the staff were awake, so I didn’t slap away his hand. Or send him catapulting into the wall, like I’d been tensing up to do. Damn reflexes.

His hand pulsed grey, and the effect was instantaneous. It was like all of my anxiety and constant paranoia was washed away by a massive wave of calm that appeared out of nowhere. No way it wasn’t a Semblance; this wasn’t natural. Was this how people felt when they were hopped up on something?

“This is insanely trippy,” I whispered, staring off into space. “Holy  _ shit.” _

Without my paranoia keeping me awake, I realized just how  _ tired _ I was, as if my bones were replaced with lead. I immediately felt lightheaded, and not a second later the effects of using so much Aura caught up to me and I passed out on the spot.

Maxie

"497, 498, 499, 500!" I said with each one-handed swing of the Punisher, making sure to stop it an inch before it hit the ground. I love the training room this early. I don't have to worry about getting in anyone else’s ways. Besides, I don't need to sleep in very late. My…  _ family  _ made sure of that. I took off my track suit jacket and let the relaxing cool air flow over me. 

Going to a nearby bar on the wall I laid Punisher on the ground right below me, then leapt up and wrapped my legs around it, letting my back fall against the wall for some hanging sit-ups. I grabbed my cross to serve as a weight before beginning..

"1, 2, 3.” I grabbed my Punisher and held it across my shoulder as I lifted up over and over, focused on my core as I did my sit up. “4, 5."

"57, 32, 66," a very familiar voice sounded out from the door. I’d like to say I didn't sigh, but I did.

"Morning Coco. Morning Fox,” I said, watching the duo come in dressed in workout gear before resuming my work out. “Give me a minute. Just gotta do 26 more reps," I told them with a smile, picking up the pace in the process.

"Oh, just make it 30 more, unless someone’s feeling lazy today," Fox drawled sarcastically before moving over to a large punching bag and pounding away at it. Coco, meanwhile, walked right up to me and kneeled down so we were face-to-face.

"So how was it meeting your 'dad'?" she asked, lowering her sunglasses to give me a serious look. “And don’t forget you have initiation today so after this, you can jog but after that it’s straight to breakfast."

"I call him Dad because he looked out for me a long time ago. And whenever he doesn't shave for a while, he grows a dad beard,” I explained, while continuing my workout. “And yes Coco, I will." 

"Good boy," she grinned, giving my upside-down head a rub.  _ This is always nice, _ I thought to myself with a smile as the door to the gym whooshed open and someone else walked in.

"I'm sorry, am I allowed to be in here?” Pyrrha asked politely as she knocked on the now-open gym door. She was wearing some light exercise clothes along with her... tiara? Crown? Whatever it is. “I know I’m not officially a student yet, but I don't want to miss my morning workout."

"Oh no, a trespasser in our student only gym. Quick Coco, call security," Fox droned sarcastically, delivering a vicious elbow to the heavy bag and sending it flying back.

"What?! No, wait, I'm not trespassing, I was approved! I’m so sorry!” Pyrrha waved her hands frantically, causing Coco and Fox to burst out laughing. I swear I could see the question marks floating around her head as she stared at them.

"Fox is messing with you Pyrrha," I explained, finishing up my set and unhooking my legs from the bar, flipping midair to land on my feet.

"Sorry, I can be a little  _ short-sighted _ with my jokes. It isn't easy to  _ read _ situations for me,” the blind Huntsman-in-training deadpanned, throwing a high kick into the bag as he did. 

"Oh.” Pyrrha blushed slightly at the realization. “So it’s alright for me to be here?" she asked, awkwardly edging her way into the gym.

"Yeah, Red, come on in. You can appreciate these fine Male specimens with me. Or we could, when one of them actually gets here,” Coco said, walking over and tossing an arm over her shoulder. “Just remember to keep it light. You're about to have your initiation in a few hours, after all, even if you are the Invincible Girl."

"How did you know who I was?" Pyrrha asked, surprised. Then, like we had rehearsed, we all held up a protein bar with her face on the wrapper. She stared for a good few seconds before burying her face in her hands.  _ I really need to check my contracts more, _ was what I’m pretty sure she was thinking at that moment.

After that quick session of further teasing, Coco started showing Pyrrha around the gym.

"So how long have you been in Beacon, Miss…?" Pyrrha asked as they moved to the open area in the corner for some warm-up stretches.

"Coco Adel,” the fashionista answered. “Leader of Team CFVY and second year student. Over there abusing the leather is my teammate Fox.” The guy in question threw her a middle finger over his shoulder as he continued abusing the punching bag.

"And making a solid testament to how milk makes you grow is Maximus Roja," Pyrrha reached out her hand to shake mine but paused when she heard my last name.  _ Of course she would know about them. _

"Like the…"

"Psycho warmongers in the White Fang and probably a large reason everyone is afraid of Faunus, yes. I am the black sheep of the family. Or wolf, I guess, would be more accurate," I said, making my ears twitch and causing Pyrrha to smile slightly.

"Sorry about that," Pyrrha said, looking rather embarrassed by her previous actions.  _ Are we sure she isn't secretly a Canadian? _

"It's fine. I’m gonna head out for a jog,” I replied, slinging my cross over my back. “See you at the initiation. Oh, and Fox? You should really ask Coco out soon." I made sure to say that last part as softly as I could to the blind Hunter.

"Oh piss off you overgrown puppy!" Fox’s yelling echoed behind me as I laughed my way out of the building.

Reseda

Turned out Beacon actually had a decent breakfast spread laid out. Nothing particularly spectacular, but at least I was able to snag myself a toasted bagel and a glass of orange juice. A quick enough meal that still probably gave plenty of energy for initiation today.

Now, I had no idea what initiation actually was. Or, more accurately, I’d forgotten. But from what I’d heard and what I remembered, it was similar to what Signal’s final was, so it definitely wasn’t something I could afford to mess around in. It was starting in like an hour, too, so I might as well get ready now. Better than having to scramble at the last minute.

Before the whole sleepover thing following the Headmaster’s initial speech, Beacon had requested that we label all of our combat-related gear, which the staff was kind enough to place in randomly-assigned lockers while we’d been getting ready. These things weren’t like the shitty lockers from high school either, since they had some sort of rocket-propelling technology and GPS coordinates to enable high-speed delivery of combat gear anywhere on campus. Though this feature wasn’t enabled until after initiation when we got our official Student IDs, so I was sadly forced to walk my way over to it instead.

Turns out, though, my locker was placed next to John the bunny-onesie guy from last night, and nearby two other girls who looked strangely familiar had started to chat. Wait, hang on a minute… 

“Excuse me, you’re Weiss Schnee, right?”

The white-clad girl turned around with what looked like an exasperated huff, and I winced internally. Geez, way to make a good first impression, me.

“And who would like to know?” she asked imperiously.

I gave her an embarrassed smile. “My name’s Reseda Antem, and I’m a huge fan of your music,” I explained sheepishly. 

Weiss paused, and I almost saw the gears in her head stutter. “My… music?”

“Yeah!” I exclaimed, letting myself gush a little now that it looked like she wasn’t going to kill me with a glare. “I haven’t seen any of your concerts myself ‘cause, y’know, I’m from Vale, but Dad’s always made a point of getting his hands on recordings when he can. He calls you his greatest rival in terms of popularity, by the way.”

“Oh? You’re a singer, Weiss?” the other girl asked politely, and John looked like he was going to say something too before Weiss inadvertently cut him off.

“Your father is Midnight Antem?” she asked, sounding impressed despite the haughty stance she was in. “He is a skilled vocalist, and his band’s tendency towards charity concerts is quite admirable.”

“Well, Dad’ll be happy you rate him highly,” I laughed before John spoke up.

“Wait, your father’s the singer from Starlit Sonata?” He was giving me the slightly awed look that I’d long since associated with fans of Mom and Dad’s band. “That’s pretty awesome! My older sisters are huge fans, so I’ve been to a few of their concerts. They’re the reason I started looking into instruments, myself!” 

I grinned sheepishly, falling back to my default method of speaking with fans. “I’ll make sure to pass it on. They’ll be flattered to hear that.”

The other girl coughed politely, drawing our attention. “Pass on my own well-wishes to them as well, please, Reseda,” she said brightly. “It’s always heartening to see a celebrity use their fame for a good purpose.”

“Similar to yourself?” Weiss asked her. “You donate much of your winnings to charitable causes, do you not?”

The redhead’s smile turned a little more strained. “That is correct, Weiss,” she replied, and then I recognized where I’d seen her before. John was a little quicker on the draw though.

“Oh, hey, you’re the girl on the Pumpkin Pete boxes!” he exclaimed.

Pyrrha Nikos, four-time Mistral Tournament champion, seemed a little surprised at his admission. “Er, yes, though the cereal itself isn’t very good for you.”

Weiss spluttered incredulously for a moment before glaring at John. “You mean you don’t recognize _ the _ Pyrrha Nikos?” 

“I… Just did?” the blonde replied, confusion evident in his voice. He clearly hadn’t been keeping track of the tournament circuit or any of the tabloids from the past few years.

Any further conversation was cut off by a flurry of curses from nearby.

“FUCK!” a very loud voice shouted. “GOD FUCKING DAMN IT I THOUGHT I DID THIS SHIT ALREADY NOW I ONLY HAVE 3 REFILLS TO LAST GOD KNOWS HOW LONG! FUCK THIS SHIT!”

Oof, seems like someone wasn’t gonna have a good time during Initiation. Speaking of, actually, I checked my watch to find there were only like 30 minutes left before it was supposed to start. And based on how large the campus was, it’d be like a quarter of an hour walk to get to the cliffside. 

“I think we should probably get going,” I said, quickly grabbing Orquestra out of my locker and slipping on my fancy protective vest and armored suit jacket, which I’d gotten as an upgrade over the old armor pieces from Signal. I kept the jacket open for the sake of mobility, but the vest was modified enough that I would be able to do anything outside of the most ridiculous gymnastics with it closed. Maybe having both Dust-reinforced pieces of clothing was a bit much, but I wasn’t gonna take any chances. Plus, I looked pretty fucking awesome with both of them on, and today was  _ the _ day for good first impressions.

“Ah, crap!” John had clearly seen the time as well. “Oh man, I still need to find my locker!” 

“I can help, Jaune,” Pyrrha spoke up, giving me the correct pronunciation for the guy’s name in the process. “Feel free to go, Weiss, Reseda,” she told us. “We’ll meet you there.”

Weiss seemed perfectly content to leave her to it. “Of course, Pyrrha. I’ll see you during Initiation. Come on, Reseda,” she said as she turned to leave. “I did wish to discuss some matters with you regarding your parents’ band.”

I wasn’t too thrilled about leaving Jaune in the lurch like that, but I suppose Pyrrha would be the best person possible to help him out aside from a Professor. “Alright, see you guys at the cliff.” I broke into a jog briefly to catch up with Weiss, passing by the orange-clad guy from earlier who’d helped Jaune out on the flight over. 

“So what was it you wanted to ask, Weiss?” The Schnee heiress instantly launched into a series of somewhat complicated questions, leaving me scrambling mentally in order to keep up. 

“Woah, slow down!” I exclaimed, frantically waving my arms back and forth. “One thing at a time, please!”

Thankfully, Weiss complied. “Who is the main songwriter for your parents’ group? Some of the lyrics are quite inspired.” That was a question I was pretty glad to answer.

“Well it’s not Mom or Dad, first of all. Uncle Calem’s usually the one to do it, though everyone tends to pitch in with specific lyrics. I’ve helped out too, every once in a while. There was this one time…” 

Serra

“Sometimes I wish I made a habit of checking how much Dust was in my weapons before doing stuff,” I growled, gripping two chakrams in my hands as I stalked towards the cliffside. “But I guess having none in them because my previous combat school said it was overkill is carrying over.”

Seriously, not my fault that I’m the only one with ready access to Dust. And the only one with more than two weapons. That didn’t make the spars more balanced like they thought it would, all it did was give me more experience fighting Dustless.

Urgh… well, at least I got the ratio of Water Dust and Ice Dust right in the chakrams that I assigned that combination to. 3 refills aren’t enough to be constantly using Dust, so I’d better use it strategically. 

I made sure my arm guards and shin guards were secure while I walked, and then the three refill cartridges. All my armour had Water and Ice Dust, because I had a theme.

I got all the way to my launchpad and then just… stood there awkwardly, nerves ramping up back to the levels that they’d been at before the dude with the pink hair stripe had used his Semblance on me.

Man, that was a  _ weird  _ Semblance. But it ended up knocking me out, so that’s fine, I guess. I wish it lasted longer, though.

"Excuse me. Do you need a hug?" a voice asked, and I glanced behind me to see that Maxie guy with a giant fuck-off cross slung onto his back. Was there a machine gun stuck in that thing? He was wearing stylized leather armor with red decoration along the limbs and a red coat which bore a white wolf that looked a bit too close to the White Fang’s symbol for my sanity. There were metal claws on his gloves, and there was a knife at his hip. 

"Oh, I’m not a weirdo. I promise. Wait. Wouldn't a weirdo say that? I am a completely average person who likes hugging people who need it? That sounds better," he said to himself as he nodded his head. 

...Is this guy high on crack or something? “Nah, I’m good, buddy,” I said as I mentally lamented the lack of a mask. I didn’t know the dude, so minimal physical contact. Plus that symbol… yikes. Most likely not actually affiliated, but better safe than sorry. “You should probably head over to your own launchpad.”

"Alrighty then. By the way, do you hear sighing?" he asked as a blonde walked over to him.

“Uh… if you’re talking about the girl in yellow, yeah.” 

"Excuse me?"

"Yes, ma’am?" he asked, turning around slightly, and I spotted the same red-cloaked girl from yesterday hanging onto the weapon with starry eyes. 

"You have something on your cross," she said, eyes speaking of a lifetime of being an elder sibling.

My face fell flat, and I reached out with my hand to snag the smaller girl by the arms with some strings and pry her off. “Really? You again?”

"Oh, really, Miss Xiao-Long? What is it?" Maxie asked, tilting his head in confusion. Gripping the red-cloaked girl tightly, I just sent her flying over him to land right next to the blonde.

"My sister, the weapon nut,” she sighed, facepalming. Cloak-girl was about to grab the cross again when the blonde caught her by the hood. “No. Bad Ruby, bad."

"But Yang, it’s so shiny, so tricked out, and so awesome!" she shouted as Yang dragged her to her own launchpad. 

“That was… an experience,” I muttered. “To say the least. Well, at least it didn’t take much of my Aura, I should gain it back by the time this thing starts.”

"I miss my sis,” I heard Maxie mutter as he got a sad look in his eyes, and I was very painfully reminded of the Maxie that I’d known in my past life. 

“Yeah, anyways… you really should get to your own launchpad, who knows when the fuckers will decide to catapult us into the forest."

"In about 5 minutes, Miss Azurite. Also, a Lien for the swear jar please," Ozpin said, appearing behind me with his coffee, his cane and a swear jar. How he was balancing all three with only two hands was beyond me. Miss Goodwitch gave me a look. 

"All I ask is to try and lessen the swearing, Miss Azurite. And none in class."

“...Sure, why not.” But, y’know, fuck you still. A swear jar? Seriously? Dude, you’re trying to stifle a teenager from cussing. That’s a lost cause, especially when it comes to me.

Maxie put a rumpled wad of Lien in the jar before walking to his platform, and I rummaged around before putting one in as well. “You know, you hid the launch pads fairly well. But dirt doesn’t have a metallic ring to it, nor does it bounce slightly when you apply force.” Ozpin merely gave a small smile.

"Perhaps at the end of the school year we will have the funding to fix that,” he replied, giving the jar a shake. “It’s time to begin initiation." 

You fucker, I’m not stupid enough to curse  _ that  _ much in front of a teacher. And Beacon has enough funding to do that, so you can go fuck yourself.

Aaron

After eating several _a few_ donuts and a large cup of coffee, I had finally decided to go pick up my staff and armor. As I made my way into the locker room, I saw Jaune and Pyrrha walking together. _Huh. Don’t remember this happening. Ahh, well. Time to introduce myself._  
Clearing my throat, I raised my hand. “Hey, Pyrrha! Long time, no see! And I see you’ve picked up a new follower already!”

“Aaron! How have you been?” She smiled at me for a moment. “And no, Jaune is just trying to find his locker, and I offered to help. Grabbing your own weapon?”

“Yup! And I never introduced myself on the Bullhead yesterday, did I? Aaron Jaspar,” I said, holding my hand out to Jaune, holding in a scowl as I saw Cardin Winchester stroll by to his own locker.

After a moment, he took my hand. “Jaune Arc. Really, thank you for yesterday. Have you happened to have seen Locker #636?”

I thought back and rechecked my paper. “Not yet, but I’m in #202, but I’ll help you find yours first. Let’s get going.” The three of us quickly went on an epic locker hunt.

Honestly, it didn’t take long. Soon I had my staff in hand, and Jaune had his sword and shield. I took a look at it, curious.

“A sword and shield? That’s my favorite choice in video game weapons. It’s a good combo.”

He seemed flustered. “Yeah, but… it’s a hand-me-down, a relic of the war. It was my grandfather’s weapon, Crocea Mors.”

“Sometimes, the oldest weapons are the best. They’ve withstood the test of time, through the ages. Think about how many legends there are about kings and mythical swords passed down their family line there are.” I left him chewing on that while I opened my locker and pulled out a few pieces of armor and put them on.

_ Oh Jaune, you poor boy. You don’t understand just how powerful you or this weapon are yet. Don’t worry, you will, and without the loss of your girlfriend. Speaking of, Pyrrha already looks interested in him~ _

“Well, Jaune, Pyrrha,” I commented, sliding my staff on my back, “we should probably hurry, we have less than 5 minutes to get to the cliff.”

Ozpin

“Your initiation begins now,” Ozpin announced to the group of first-years gathered in front of him. “What you see below you is the Emerald Forest. Your goal is to reach a temple to the North of this cliff, from which you will retrieve a single relic and return to the top of this cliff.”

“Do not take this lightly,” he added. “The forest has been seeded with several species of Grimm by our professors. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die.” 

Glynda stepped forwards to continue the briefing. "Now, there have been many questions regarding the arrangement of teams and partners. Rest assured, those will all be assigned today.” The students tensed, clearly nervous about the selection process.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So I would highly suggest finding someone you can work well with,” Ozpin said, picking up where his deputy headmistress had left off. He noticed that several people, Miss Rose included, were not particularly enthusiastic about this, and had to fight off a grin. 

The headmaster of Beacon smirked internally as he delivered the wham line. “With that in mind, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years.” There were several exclamations of surprise as Ozpin finally allowed his mischievous smile to show. “Any questions?"

"Miss Goodie?" Maxie asked, waving his hand in the air. Everyone turned and gave the Faunus a weird look.

"Yes Maxie?" she asked, suppressing a sigh as everyone turned back to stare at her incredulously.

"Do we get a second breakfast to go?" 

"...Maxie, you have your landing strategy ready?" she asked, pressing a button on her tablet.

"Yes, Miss Gooooooooodddddddiiiiiiiieeee…" his voice trailed off into the distance as he was launched skywards, with the assembled students flinching back at the abruptness of his departure.

“Ah yes, that was what I had yet to mention,” Ozpin chuckled. “Ensure your landing strategy is prepared, students. Best of luck.”

“That’s my boy,” Jaspar sighed, smiling as he was launched in the same direction. Ozpin noted that he hadn’t even bothered bracing himself for liftoff, instead just channeling his Semblance to take the brunt of the force. The old headmaster couldn’t help but smile as the other prospective first-years were also flung off one after the other.

“Er… Professor, when you say ‘landing strategy,’” the Arc boy began, but his platform activated before he could finish, and all that came out of his mouth was a scream of fear. Ozpin hoped he could figure something out relatively quickly, though he did see Nikos eyeing him before she herself was launched. Jaune Arc would survive the launch, at least, if what Ozpin read from the redhead’s gaze was correct.

“HAHAHA! HOLY SHIT THIS IS ONE HELL OF A START!”

And then there was Miss Azurite, with her Semblance already wrapping around her and whooping with adrenaline. It made sense, since she was accustomed to high falls. Mister Antem, on the other hand, was remarkably composed, simply giving him and Glynda a wave as he was sent flying.

When the last student had finished launching, Ozpin finally let out the chuckle he’d been holding in. “Glynda, you are aware that you will have to maintain some form of professionalism with Maxie, correct?” he teased his normally unflappable deputy.

Glynda scowled back. “Maximus was informed of the required form of address,” she replied stiffly. “It is no fault of mine if he forgets to do so.”

The headmaster merely grinned, letting her glare slide off him as they walked off to the viewing booth. He couldn't help noticing she’d called him Maxie instead of Mr. Roja, like she should have done. “Regardless, let’s see how these prospects do,” he said, changing the subject as they entered the room full of display screens. “I am eager to witness them in action.”


	4. Into the Woods

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go~~   
> Comment, like, or ask any questions. And as always thanks for reading.

**Chapter 3: Into the Woods**

Serra

“FUCK YEAH!” I whooped, revelling in the feeling of freefall as I plummeted down into the forest, strings whipping around me like some demented beyblade. If this wasn’t a great way to get the adrenaline pumping, I didn’t know what was. And we were gonna be fighting Grimm, so we’d need the adrenaline to live through the day.

My pendant whacked me straight in the face, and I hurriedly shoved it aside to spread my strings around and grapple the trees I was approaching at mach speeds. I definitely heard the sound of wood groaning and creaking, but I came to a halt a few feet above the ground, suspended by ocean-blue strings of Aura with no problems besides my face stinging a little bit from bits of stone that’d smacked into it.

That was why I usually had my hoodie zipped up, but in combat it was better for me to keep it open because of how much I moved. 

“Let’s see… we’re fighting Grimm, right? I’ve only fought them once, and it was a Ursa Minor,” I muttered, cutting down on the number of strings I had and falling softly onto the forest ground. “And I didn’t even get to kill it, the teachers made me retreat because it was ‘just to see if I could handle being close to a Grimm of that caliber,’ of fucking  _ course _ I can handle it.” A Ursa Minor was nothing compared to hurtling through Vale’s rooftops at 3 am, chased by pissed off knife wielders and sporting multiple stab wounds. Fun times.

A low growl came from my right, and I didn’t even have to think before chucking both chakram straight at the source, strings attached. Both blades sank right into the throat of a Beowolf, and I pulled on the strings, decapitating the Grimm before the chakram whizzed back into my hands. 

The now-dead Grimm dissolved into the customary black mist, and I did a couple of stretches before reaching back and undoing the strap on another chakram, using a string to make it hover in the air around me.

This was gonna be  _ fun. _ I don’t have to deal with people that have brain cells to burn on trying to kill me creatively!

It’s just, y’know, things that still want to kill me. But they can’t plan! Right? I’m fairly sure the regular ones can’t plan, at least… 

Maxie

"So, first order of business: don't die," I said to myself as I rocketed through the air. Spotting a giant tree, I hefted Punisher and opened fire at its base. The high-powered bullets tore through the bark of the tree like a chainsaw while also slowing me down with the recoil. Flipping around, I slammed feet first into the tree, causing it to lurch over and start falling. I started to run along the falling tree, opting to barrel my way through the branches weapon first. 

Someone screaming came from my right, and I looked to my side to see Jaune about to fly into a nearby tree face first.  _ Jaune, that isn't how you use your head,  _ I thought wryly, using my weapon to cut through the tree, then leaping forward to smash it aside, all the while making sure to avoid eye contact with him. As he passed through the space where the tree had been, a red javelin came speeding through the air, catching him by the hood and pinning him to a nearby tree trunk.

"Thank you," I heard him call out in a groan of pain as he dangled there like the world’s oddest street sign.

"You’re welcome," I called out.

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha yelled a moment after. Smiling and making sure to avoid looking at her too, I took off once more, leaping up to a nearby low-hanging tree branch. Using my gloves’ built-in claws for stability, I leapt through the trees like a ninja, jumping, swinging, and flipping across branches before coming to a stop. I had travelled for a good bit and found a good vantage point. Resting Punisher on my shoulder, I took a kneeling stance as a scope popped out of one the side arms on my cross.

"Now, let's see what's what,” I murmured, using the scope to scan the surrounding area. “Gotta find Aaron."

I could see Pyrrha unlocking Jaune’s Aura back where I’d come from, and that meant… Turning around, I quickly began searching for Ren.

"Ah, there you are,” I said as I watched Ren dodging the strikes from the two-headed King Taijitu. “Let's make this even." I quickly shifted Punisher on my shoulder, spinning it around so that the short top end was aimed at the fight. I adjusted the scope over my eye once more as the end of the cross popped open with a mechanical whir, revealing the twin barrels of the mini-mortar held within.

Taking a breath, I zeroed in on the white Taijitu’s eyes and fired. A Dust-infused mortar shell wasn’t the fastest projectile, but it was good enough for crossing the distance between me and my target and obliterating its head in an explosion of fire. Ren didn’t even hesitate at the loss of one target, instantly changing focus to the remaining head.  _ Damn, Ren is  _ cool _ ,  _ I thought, seeing him make it explode after a few skillful blows. I quickly turned around so our eyes wouldn't meet, but I did hold a thumbs-up over my shoulder for him. 

"Now what else?" I asked myself, idly searching around for any other students. Up ahead, I could make out Weiss and Ruby arguing while something moved in the bushes beside them.  _ Oh crap. _ I quickly flipped Punisher back around as the long end opened up, revealing a pair of machine gun barrels. I readjusted my sight and gently squeezed both triggers, firing bullets from both barrels for the extra kill potential. A Beowulf leaped out from the bushes and charged at the two girls, only to be flung back as the bullets tore through it. The girls paused in their argument, quickly alternating between staring at the now-disappearing Grimm and at me. I gave them both a little wave and a smile.

"Thank you, Maxie!" I heard Ruby shout as she waved her arms excitedly. Weiss, on the other hand, just gave a little bow and mouthed the words.  _ Huh, she’s cute when she blushes. Why is she blushing?  _ I wondered. And then something else a good few yards away caught my attention.  _ Is the hole in that tree… Aaron-shaped? _

  
  


Reseda

My landing strategy hadn’t changed much since Signal. I waited until the apex of my launch before trying anything, making sure I got the maximum possible height to try and spot out where the temple could be. Didn’t have much luck there, unfortunately, so I just ended up channeling my Semblance to my vest to slow myself down. Unlike the last time I did this, I made sure to only slow the armored piece of clothing down by a very small amount, gradually increasing it so that I didn’t suffer from whiplash. Sure Aura could probably protect me from it, but it never hurt to be careful.

This, however, took much longer than my previous tactic of abruptly slowing down, which meant that I was still traveling at a pretty significant pace by the time I reached the treeline. I unsheathed Orquestra from my back, making it unfold into its large tuning fork form and violently stabbing it into the first large tree I flew past.

The abrupt slow-down was still a wrench on the body, and I winced at the jolt of pain as Orquestra’s blades carved twin furrows into the poor tree I was using. A swing of the legs altered my trajectory, and I pulled my weapon out of the tree in order to redirect my momentum into a flip upwards, bleeding off even more speed and allowing me to land safely on the ground.

That was the easy part. The more annoying part was the pair of chakrams that flew out of frickin’ nowhere to try and take my head off.

They didn’t succeed, of course, but it was a damn close thing. I just barely managed to duck out of the way from the first one, and only deflected the second one by sheer luck when I instinctively lashed out with Orquestra.

My reflexive shout of panic must’ve reached whoever threw the damn things, because there weren’t any follow-up attempts. Instead, Serra walked out of the brush, grinning sheepishly as we locked gazes. Another chakram was floating above her head, which she’d thankfully not thrown yet.

“Sorry about that,” she apologized, recalling the chakrams to her using what looked like telekinesis, but was probably that string ability she’d shown last night. “I heard some crashing and tearing and kinda just reacted.”

I sighed and shrugged. “It happens. You got a partner yet?”

“Nah, didn’t really find anyone but a Beowolf that’s dead now.”

“Well, you do now.” I extended my hand. “Reseda Antem, at your service.”

“Antem, huh? Nice. Serra Azurite.” She shook my hand, and then started rummaging through the leather pouches she was wearing. “Hey, wanna exchange Scroll numbers? Might as well do it now, so that if we get lost or something we can contact each other.”

“Might as well. Here you go.” Exchanging numbers took barely a minute, and afterwards I started looking upwards in an attempt to find a gap in the tree cover. 

“I think… Yeah, North is this way,” I said, pointing in the direction I’d deduced based on the Sun’s position, “Though I don’t know where in that direction the temple place is supposed to be.”

We’d been walking for a bit when my pocket buzzed, and I shot Serra a look—she was grinning smugly—before checking my Scroll.

“ _ owo _ ”

I stared at it for a second before my brain caught up and I started grinning. By the time it had, I was already sending an equally-cursed response.

“ _ ovo _ ”

Serra’s grin widened.  _ “uowou” _ was the response which appeared on my Scroll, and I couldn’t help but snicker a little despite the nostalgia hit. I was far from unfamiliar with this routine, after all. I’d done it several times over with a friend from my past life.

_ “uovuo” _ I sent back, before closing my Scroll. 

It buzzed again, this time reading  _ “uovywyvou.” _ I couldn’t help but snort out loud when I read it, before a possibility occurred to me. It could be possible that… but if it wasn’t, I’d probably end up getting off on the wrong foot with my new partner.

I quickly sent back “ _ uowyvywou _ ” as a response, before giving my theory a test. I started humming a little, before singing the first lines of a theme song from Earth.

_ “On a road, far from home, _

_ But you don’t have to feel alone. _

_ Brave and strong, together we will be. _

_ It’s our destiny! _ ” 

Serra stared at me with wide eyes before bluntly stating, “That’s a fucking Pokemon theme.”

“Why yes, yes it is,” I grinned triumphantly. “Good to see someone else from Earth. I thought I was the only one.”

“Fuck, so did I!” Serra rubbed at her head, hysteria edging into her voice a little bit. “Man, this is one fucking  _ hell _ of a long shot, but since you kept on responding to the cursed shit… that you, Teammate?”

“Only if you’re the one asking, Caf,” I replied with a smile. Out of all the people I expected to meet in Remnant, Caffinated-Dragon was absolutely not one of them. An unexpected surprise, to be sure, but far from an unwelcome one.

She let out a noise that sounded like a mix between a laugh and a sob, and covered her face with her hands. “Fuck, man, it’s so nice to meet you. You still associated with hedgehogs?”

I let out a dry chuckle, which got her to look up from her hands. “Caf, look at me. Take a good, long, close look.”

It only took a second or two for her to get it, and she proceeded to do her best impression of the wheezing laughter meme. “I- holy shit pfffhahahaha _ haha! _ Your fucking  _ hair!” _

I couldn’t help but start laughing myself, because yeah, the irony was actually really funny. 

“Alright, that’s enough of that,” I decided as my laughter finally died down. “We can catch up later, after all. That relic isn’t going to collect itself.” 

“Yeah, that’s kinda important,” Serra winced. “By the way, why does your weapon look like an oversized tuning fork? That’s so stupid.”

I gasped dramatically, shooting her a fake-offended look. “Serra, how could you say such a thing! I’ll have you note that Orquestra is a custom-built, finely-tuned piece of murder machine that’ll sound out the death knell for any Grimm we’ll find!” 

“I hate that I got every pun in that sentence,” Serra deadpanned, and I just laughed in response as we continued our trek towards the temple. 

Aaron

_ Ok, so, I need to make sure I don’t take any of the White Rooks or Knights. Maybe the Bishops, if they’re still there. Where there Queen pieces? Don’t remember anymore... Need to land and find Maxie first though. _ With that, my flight path brought me near some tree.  _ Perfect. Let’s see if I can pull this off… _

I hooked my staff around one of the smaller trees to adjust my course slightly, doing the same with a few more trees as I got closer and closer to the ground, until I encountered a massive roadblock.

_ That… is a big damn tree. Seriously, that’s almost as big as the damn Great Deku Tree! And… I can’t adjust in time, crap. Now, I can brace myself, or enjoy myself.  _ I think you know what I picked.

I slid my staff onto my back, not wanting to risk losing it in a forest full of Grimm, and did a cool pose, just like Zoro on Little Garden: I mimed myself throwing a punch and channeled my Semblance again as I hit the side of the tree at full force, going straight through, and out the other side, right into a group of Beowulves.

I stood up, brushing some wood out of my hair and wincing as I pulled some bark out of my arm.  _ Crap. I’m turning into Yang and relying on my Semblance too much again. Need to remember my time limit. I’m down to 50 seconds, and who knows what’s gonna attack me… Oh right, Beowolves. _ I ducked as a claw swiped over my head before leaping forward, kicking backwards as I did. My heels dug into the attacking Grimm’s head, sending it crashing into the tree I’d just torn a hole through.

The rest of the group hesitated very slightly.

“What boys, too much of pansies to attack someone who can actually fight back?”  _ … I wish I could control my mouth better once my blood is boiling… _

The whole pack leaped forward to attack. I dodged and weaved throughout the assault, letting my Aura take what attacks I didn’t swerve around. Another Grimm took my version of a One-Inch Punch, and landed right on the still-dissolving body of the first.

In the next moment, my staff was out and I let out a loud, “HIYAH!” as I pulled off a spinning attack which slammed into through three of the remaining four Wolves, sending them flying off into the woods. I was about to kill the last Grimm when a giant, oddly familiar cross fell from the sky and landed directly on its head, crushing it instantly.

"Found you Dad~" Maxie sang as he landed on one of the cross’ arms. Our eyes met.  _ My son might be a badass, _ I thought proudly, right before mentally facepalming as he lost his balance and fell off. 

I stepped forward to help him up, but had to raise my staff slightly behind my head, catching one of the returning Wolves in the jugular as it had attempted to pounce on me. The Atlesian metal stabbed into its throat as I threw it to the ground in front of me, and with a spin brought my staff down hard, crushing the head under it. I looked up and said as calmly as possible, “Maxie, at your 6 and... flying?"

Maxie

I turned around at Dad’s request to see an Ursa flying towards me, and reacted on instinct. Breaking into a dead sprint towards the flying Ursa, I jumped up and drop-kicked the Grimm straight in its spine. There was a loud CRACK! and I watched it go flying back, dissipating as it did.

"Ugh, gross! Grimm dust in my mouth!" I heard a girl’s voice shout from its original direction. Giving Aaron a quick look, I picked up Punisher and rested it on my shoulder as we made our way towards the source. _Ah, now I remember._ As we found Yang and Blake, I couldn't help but give her a once over. _Thank god she looks healthy..._ _At least, on the outside._ I averted my eyes quickly after, though. Less chance of her recognizing me that way.

"Sorry about that ladies. I see a flying Grimm, my first instinct is to drop-kick it."

“Maxie, Kiddo, be a little more careful of ally placement in the future, all right? Everything ok, ladies?” With that, Aaron stepped through the trees. For a moment, I saw his old, six-and-a-half-foot tall self, before it overlaid his much shorter 5’9 figure. He had the same messy brown hair, thankfully without the white streaks he’d started to sport in his old life. And with those dark silver leg greaves and arm guards on, he was really making me wonder why he didn’t wear any more armor. 

"Yeah, we're fine," Yang replied, dusting off the nonexistent Grimm remains. "What about you, Blake?" she asked the quiet girl behind her. I could feel Blake staring at me as I purposely moved my head around, both avoiding her gaze and keeping track of possible enemies. 

"I'm fine. We should get moving though. I think the ruins are close," she said distractedly, eyes narrowing as she stared at me more intensely.

"I'll lead the way," I volunteered, quickly turning and striding off North toward the ruins, keeping Punisher slung over my shoulder. As I moved I could hear Yang and Aaron talking behind me. They would occasionally talk to Blake who I could feel giving my back the occasional glance. 

I cast around a bit to try and distract myself from her gaze, and decided to sing a little to take my mind off of the darker thoughts that’d started swirling.  __

_ “I have often dreamed of a far off place, _

_ Where a hero's welcome would be waiting for me. _

_ Where the crowds would cheer, when they see my face, _

_ And a voice keeps saying: This is where I'm meant to be! _

_ “I'll be there someday! I can go the distance! _

_ I will find my way if I can be strong! _

_ I know every mile would be worth my while. _

_ When I go the distance, I'll be right where I belong!” _

"I know that tune," Blake spoke up from beside me, startling me out of my singing. 

"You do?" I asked, feeling a knot form in my throat.

"But it’s been forever since I heard it,” she said, eyes narrowing as she studied my face before glancing at the symbol on my back. “Someone I considered family used to hum it. Back in the… old days."

"BB, you're not that old yet," I chuckled without thinking, before freezing when I realized I’d just called her by her old nickname.  _ Oh crap. _

"What did you just call me?" Blake asked as her eyes went wide. I was desperately trying to think of an answer when I saw the trees parting up ahead, and caught a glimpse of stone through the gaps.

“Hey, guys! The temple’s up this way! Come on!” I instantly sprinted towards the temple, ignoring Blake’s calls to wait as best I could. Hopefully, in all the upcoming craziness she’d forget all about it.

“Man, we’ve not bumped into anyone yet,” Serra commented as she and Reseda continued their journey to the ruins. “This forest is pretty spacious, but it can’t be  _ that _ spacious if they expect us to make teams of 4.”

“Or maybe we’re just not near anyone else,” her new partner pointed out. “With all the Grimm around the place and the only real objective being to get to the ruins and then scale the cliff, there’s bound to be people that just gun straight for the relics and nope out.”

“Fair point.” A chakram whizzed out to decapitate a stray Ursa Minor before flying back into Serra’s hands, the two teens paying no attention to the disintegrating Grimm. “How many relics d’you think there will be?”

“Eh, probably like 10 or so,” Reseda shrugged. “Why’re you fidgeting with your chakram so much?” 

“Huh?” Serra looked down at her hands, which were fiddling with the Dust cartridges in a chakram. “Oh, probably just habit. I know I’ve not used any Dust yet, but I practiced shucking the empty cartridges a lot because even though I didn’t really use Dust all that much I needed the practice for live combat.”

“Why didn’t you use-?”

“My combat school thought it was unfair. Honestly, fuck the teachers that said that, apparently because I had access to Dust meant that I wasn’t allowed to fight with it because other students couldn’t.”

Reseda stared for a second before shaking his head incredulously. “That’s the most counterproductive thing I’ve heard a Combat School pull in a while. On your left, by the way.” 

Serra chucked two chakram at the Beowolfs accordingly, and they dissolved into black mist. “Yeah, apparently no matter the world I get fucked over by the educational system, who knew. At least the arts program they had wasn’t half bad, I got to whack someone over the head with their own instrument when it was clear they were shit and never practiced.” 

“Dare I ask what instrument?” Reseda replied with a wry chuckle.

“Trumpet, so the dude got a concussion because I hit him too hard.” Serra grinned unrepentantly at the admission.

“Damn. I hope the trumpet was alright.”

“Yeah, it came out unscathed,” Serra replied smugly. “Being first seat had its perks, and one of them was that people recognized when they were outclassed in terms of their music. That dude fucking deserved it, and everyone knew it.”

“Nice.”

A very loud scream interrupted their conversation, and they whirled around towards the direction that it had come from, which was to the right of where the two teens were currently.

“Uh… should we go investigate?”

“Probably? I suppose it wouldn’t hurt. And you were saying something about encountering people, so here’s the chance.” And with that, Reseda and Serra took off towards the scream. 

After a few minutes of running, they found a large, empty cave sporting a large amount of scuff marks and destroyed earth around it. 

Reseda quickly began inspecting the tracks. “Looks like a… Deathstalker,” he mused, “A really big one, chasing some people North. They probably disturbed it by accident.”

“You don’t need to be a Signal graduate to figure that out,” Serra snarked at him, earning an annoyed glare as she pointed out the rather large trail of destruction leading northwards.

“Yeah, yeah,” her partner grumbled. “C’mon, let’s go make sure the thing doesn’t kill whoever was unlucky enough to wake it up.”

**-o-**

Said unlucky pair of Huntsmen-in-training was desperately running through the woods, trying to outrun the massive scorpion Grimm that they’d disturbed. Though it would be more accurate to say that only one of them was actually running. The other was clinging desperately to the Deathstalker’s stinger, getting thrown to and fro as the giant arachnoid whipped its tail around wildly in an effort to dislodge him. Thankfully for them, they were heading towards the ruins out of sheer luck, where most of the other to-be students were.

“AAAAAAAAH!” Jaune screamed as he finally lost his grip and was sent flailing through the air, and Pyrrha frantically increased her pace to try and catch up to him. The blonde’s flight came to an abrupt end when he bodily slammed into someone, sending them both skidding back a bit before he found himself being gently put back on solid ground. 

“You alright there, Jaune?” a familiar voice asked, and the would-be-knight opened his eyes to see that he’d been caught out of the air by Aaron. 

“Uh, yeah,” Jaune stuttered slightly, still off-balance from the series of events that led him here. “Thanks for the save.” Looking around, he saw several of the other students he’d met last night, including Yang, Blake, and Ruby, standing with another pair that he hadn’t met before. And they were all looking… upward, for some reason?

Aaron grinned back at him. “No problem,” he said, before looking skywards himself upon hearing a familiar scream. “One sec, Jaune. Maxie, could you get Weiss?” 

“On it Dad!” Jaune saw the Faunus kid who’d shown up shirtless at Ozpin’s speech dash by. He leapt up into the air, arms outstretched, just in time to catch Weiss as she… tumbled down from the sky? That explained why everyone was looking up. When he looked up himself in an effort to make sense of the situation, Jaune could make out the circling form of what looked like a  _ really _ big Nevermore.

“Nice catch Maxie!” he heard Ruby cheer from nearby, but most of his attention was occupied with how Weiss was struggling her way free of Maxie’s hold with a slight blush on her face. The next thing she did was go off to yell at Ruby, who must’ve been her partner based on what they were saying.

As Aaron walked off into the temple and the bickering reached new heights, Jaune could only hope Pyrrha would catch up to him soon.  _ Why me? _ He groaned internally.

Serra

“I wish I had my trumpet on me,” I said as I decapitated yet another Beowolf. “Would be nice to play something memey.”

“While we’re fighting Grimm?” Reseda deadpanned. “That’ll split your attention.”

“Hey, I’m used to having to split my attention! Plus, it’d be easier for other people to find us if I did have it on me.” I cracked my neck, feeling out the forest ahead of us with some visible strings. “I don’t think we’re getting any closer to the person that screamed- but I’m pretty sure we just hit the ruins. I can feel stone bricks through my strings, and I’m fairly sure they just hit some pillars.”

“Finally.” Reseda’s weird gun-tuning fork-thingy fired, blowing a nice hole in a nearby Creep. “We’ve been following this trail for ages, and I’m pretty sure we should’ve caught up with this thing by noooooowhat the fuck is going on here.”

On the plus side, the temple was nearby. But between it and us was a scene of what looked like semi-organized chaos. A bunch of other students, including that Nora girl and her friend from last night, were facing off with a pair of giant Grimm. One was a massive fucking bird that I recognized as a Nevermore, and the other was the Deathstalker we’d been following this whole time.

Ruby looked like she was trying to prove something as she charged the Deathstalker. Meanwhile Maxie was firing his cross at the Nevermore. That massive fuckoff cross  _ did _ have a machine gun! I wonder if I can make a smaller version…

“I think we can safely say that we’ve found the Deathstalker and who it was chasing.” Reseda’s deadpan comment startled me out of my gaping and back into action.

“Oh those are some  _ big _ fuckoff Grimm.” I hurriedly undid all the straps on the rest of the chakram in the backpack and attached strings to all of them, resulting in 6 of them floating around me. “Uh… which relic do we grab?” Fucking  _ chess pieces, _ I swear to god. At least there weren’t any pawns.

“Up to you,” my partner replied distractedly, eyeing the group of students that were already fighting off the Grimm. “Just choose quickly, please. I’m gonna go help those guys.”

Reseda ran off, and I walked up to the pedestals, being careful to keep half of my attention on the fight. Someone was leaning against a pillar with some earbuds, probably recharging some Aura.

Which piece to grab? White moves first, but can reveal their strategy if they’re not careful. Black moves second, but it’s easier to beat the one in the lead if you’re good enough.

I grabbed the white Queen piece, and was about to go join the fight when I heard the item acquired music from the Legend of Zelda series play. Looking around for the source revealed that the dude leaning against the pillar was the source of said music, which begged the question of how the fuck he knew that music in the first place.

Another person from before? Had to be, either that or one hell of a coincidence. So I walked over to the dude and started staring him straight in the eyes to psych him out. “That’s a Legend of Zelda song. How the fuck do you know it.”

The dude’s eyes widened, and I realized that this was the person that Maxie had tackled. “Uh… holy shit, you’re from Earth?”

“No shit sherlock,” I deadpanned. “How else d’you think I recognized that? Legend of Zelda’s not exactly subtle, you know.” 

"It's dangerous to go alone without good music."

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. What’s your name?”

“Aaron Jaspar, yours?”

“Serra Azurite. Now, are you gonna get off your ass and help them or not?” I tucked the chess piece into my pouch and started running towards the fight, launching two chakrams at the big birb Grimm that was currently diving straight for Maxie, who’d placed himself between Ruby and the Schnee heiress with his weapon raised.

Maxie

Ruby and Weiss’ moment of reconciliation in the shadow of the Deathstalker was interrupted when the Nevermore swooped down towards them. “Look out!” I called, dashing forwards to put myself between them and the giant bird Grimm.

I readied Punisher to fire my last mortar round when I saw it rear its wings back, paling as I realized what it was going to do next. I turned and started running away, scooping Ruby up and shouting for Weiss to get clear as the Nevermore flapped hard, sending a brace of razor-sharp feathers down on us. 

_ Crap, I’m not gonna outrun these. _ Skidding to a halt, I grabbed my cross by the center and held it out, bracing myself as the feathers rained down. Every impact of feather on metal transferred a hammerblow back to me, numbing my arm even with my Aura active.

"Set me down,” Ruby called out from where she was hanging in my grasp. “I can snipe it!" I set her down behind me with a nod as she folded Crescent Rose into its sniper configuration and tried to take aim over my shoulder.

"This would be easier if you weren't so tall!" she commented, shouting to be heard over the loud rattling coming from the last few feathers deflecting off of Punisher.

"Well, maybe if some granny would drink milk more often you wouldn't have that problem!" I shouted back.

“Granny!?” Ruby glared, completely forgetting the Nevermore for a moment. "You leave my love of fine shawls out of this!”

“Would you two focus, please!” Weiss yelled at us from nearby, where she was hiding under a Glyph to shield her from the feather attack.

"Sorry, Snow Bunny!" I yelled back, paying no attention to her indignant sputtering as Ruby finally fired off a round that hit the Nevermore in the eye. It flailed through the air with a pained screech before recovering and coming back around. 

The Nevermore tried to go for another dive, but was forced to pull back with a squawk as a pair of chakrams flashed past its face. The weapons only flew a little farther before stopping, and they pulled back into the waiting hands of the short girl from the cliffside earlier, who had more chakram floating around her. The Grimm instead started circling around, setting up for another strafing run. 

As it reared back its wings for another barrage, I felt something land on Punisher and push off again, flying in the direction of the Nevermore. I looked up to see Aaron rocketing into the sky with his staff spinning, knocking aside the feather projectiles in a blur of dark metal. He looked back and yelled, “Ruby, now!” She zipped into the air next to him, and he grabbed her hand and chucked her higher up to the Nevermore. As she arrived, she did a spinning slice that sent the massive bird to the ground.

"Everyone to the cliffs!” Ruby shouted, leaping off of the stunned Nevermore. “Pass the exam first then we can deal with these Grimm,” she shouted as she took off for the cliff. Splitting my cross in half, I fired at the Deathstalker and Nevermore with both machine guns to cover the others as they made a break for it. 

The Nevermore took the skies once more as the Deathstalker began to run after us.  _ Scuttle? Run? What’s the appropriate term for a scorpion moving quickly? _ I wondered as I rested my cross on my shoulder, bringing up the rear as Pyrrha, Ren, and another guy with spiky black hair fired at the Grimm.

Aaron landed nearby and looked over the groups, then back at me, shouting, “Maxie, let’s go!” I quickly turned and ran after them, reassembling Punisher as I went. The big fight was coming soon, we just needed to get in position for it.

After a few moments of furious running, the group of twelve potential students found their retreat stopped by a large chasm. A single, narrow bridge was the only visible way across, but the path to freedom was cut off when the Nevermore swooped down, kicking up a massive cloud of dust and blocking off the other side of the bridge.

“FUCK OFF!” Serra yelled, chucking all 6 chakram at the Grimm and forcing it back a little bit. When she pulled them all back, she grabbed two of them before slashing them through the air. Two large blades of water shot out of the weapons and hit the Nevermore, forcing it back further. Those who could followed up with several volleys of bullets, and the bird Grimm decided to take back to the air. 

“Now’s our chance!” Ruby yelled. “Let’s go!”

The Nevermore screeched in frustration as the students began running across the bridge. Pyrrha, Reseda, and Ren turned back to face the Deathstalker, forcing it to protect its eyes from the bullets and stop advancing. Serra stayed back as well, preoccupied with pulling all of her stray chakrams back to her.

The massive bird flapped its wings once more, sending several more feathers shooting down at the bridge. Most of them missed, but those that got close were deflected by broad swipes from Aaron or blocked by glyphs from Weiss.

Then a roar echoed out from inside the chasm.

Serra had a better vantage point to look inside said chasm, since she was at the edge of the bridge, and she immediately started cursing up a storm.

“Serra, wha–” Reseda began, only to freeze when the source of her reaction clambered its way onto solid ground. “Oh, that is all sorts of inconvenient.”

“NO SHIT!” Serra shouted back.

The cause of this reaction was a massive armored lizard-Grimm, stretching several meters long and standing almost as tall as the Deathstalker nearby. Claws like massive excavation trucks gouged furrows into the ground, all power and destruction. Rows of spikes trailed down its back, each one as sharp as any sword. Crimson eyes danced with hunger and rage. A large maw opened, revealing razor-sharp teeth as the giant lizard-like Grimm announced its presence with an earth-shattering roar, with a thick hide of skin flaring around it like a mane.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” Serra growled. The other three with her were silent, merely readying their weapons as the Grimm lumbered towards them. The cursing renewed when a stray swipe of the thing’s tail smashed into the bridge, opening a massive hole and sending shards of stone tumbling into the chasm.

Aaron’s reaction was a touch more vocal. “What the  _ fuck _ is that thing!” he yelled in a panic.

“A giant Murder Cowl,” Yang muttered, eyes wide before a wild grin took over and she slammed her fists together. “This is gonna be awesome!” 

“WE ALREADY HAVE TWO BIG GRIMM TO DEAL WITH! THIS IS NOT AWESOME BY ANY MEANS, NOT EVEN FOR MY ADRENALINE JUNKIE ASS!” Serra howled at her from across the gap.

“Uh, guys,” Jaune started, flinching slightly when everyone nearby turned to him. “We can’t outrun this,” he said simply, his voice firming as he went on. “It’ll take too long to climb the cliff, and we’ll be exposed the entire time.”

“Jaune’s right.” Ruby spun Crescent Rose around, extending it back into its scythe form. “We’ve got to take these guys out before we go.”

Aaron groaned, then slapped his cheeks with both hands. “Ok, ok… I can do this… Alright! Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, handle the Nevermore! Take it to the tower across the bridge! Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, Ren, deal with the Deathstalker! Don’t let it on the bridge! Maxie, Reseda, Serra, with me, we’re gonna channel this giant pain in the ass away from the fight!” 

“Got it Dad!” Maxie yelled, running down the bridge and leaping across the gap, followed by Aaron shortly after. Jaune and Nora were quick to follow in an explosion of pink as Nora used her hammer to launch them over, much to Jaune’s displeasure.

Reseda pressed a switch on his weapon, and the giant tuning fork split down the middle. The blades on each half folded down and over into themselves, leaving the green-suited student brandishing a pair of pistols. He wasted no time in opening fire, strafing off to the side to draw the Grimm’s attention away from the arriving quartet, Serra right behind him.

The spray of bullets didn’t do much more than annoy the Murder Cowl, but it did get its attention. It roared once more before opening its jaws, and a dim orange glow started to shine from inside its throat. Eyes wide, Serra immediately chucked two of her chakrams, using her strings trailing behind it to loop around its jaws. A hard yank from her and Reseda working together succeeded at snapping its jaws shut, stifling the fire breath before it could start.

Aaron was trying not to have a panic attack. “THAT’S A KOMODO DRAGON! THEY DON’T BREATHE FIRE! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS PLANET?!” Luckily, the other teams were out of range, and only the three around him happened to hear it.

“That thing’s supposed to be a WHAT?!” Serra yelped, snapping her head back to stare at the Grimm. “The fuck!?”

The Murder Cowl jerked its head, and Serra was forced to dispel her strings or risk getting pulled clean off her feet. The lizard Grimm roared once more as it focused on the four students standing before it.

“It’s just another one of  _ those _ days, isn’t it,” Reseda sighed, idly readjusting his jacket and twirling his pistols back into a ready position. Maxie slung Punisher over his shoulder once more, opening up the mortar end and sighting on the Murder Cowl, and Aaron readied his staff as he was covered in an orange Aura. 

Serra couldn’t help but groan at the situation in front of them. “This is going to be  _ fun _ .”

**End**


	5. Putting it Together

**Chapter 4: Putting it Together**

Reseda

I shouted in pain as my body slammed through several thinner trees, cursing as I skidded to a stop in the middle of a small clearing in the forest. A giant, clawed foot swung down at me, but Aaron’s staff smashed into it, forcing it to the side as the Murder Cowl roared in pain. The Grimm’s side was then peppered by a hail of bullets from Maxie, prompting it to turn away from me and snap after him.

Aaron landed nearby, the orange aura surrounding him dispelling as he bent over, gasping for air. “You alright?” he asked between breaths, and I gave him a faint thumbs-up as I regained my bearings.

This was not going well. The Murder Cowl’s first attack had forced us to scatter, and for the past few seconds we’d been unable to mount a serious attack on it. After the first time we caught it, the thing hadn’t given Serra the chance to even try and stop its fire breath attacks since. Maxie had used the last of his mortars covering her after a subsequent attempt nearly saw her get roasted. 

Aaron hadn’t been able to get close because of the Grimm’s wildly flailing armored tail, and he didn’t seem to have a gun on him either so he was stuck. That hit he’d landed on the thing’s leg just now was the first solid one we’d had this whole time, and even then I saw that it hadn’t done permanent damage through its armor.

“FUCK OFF!” Serra yelled, launching another set of water blades at the Murder Cowl. They carved some furrows into its side, but based on the subsequent flurry of curses from Serra she’d just used up all the remaining Dust in those two chakrams. “One refill left! Fuck!”

Maxie took advantage of the Grimm’s distraction to leap up onto its back and start hammering away with his massive fuck-off cross weapon, laughing and whooping as the Grimm tried to shake him off.

“Got any ideas?” I asked Aaron, feigning a casualness I didn’t really feel. The thing was far too big for my Semblance, Tempo, to slow down for longer than a second without losing all my Aura. Finding that out earlier was what put me into the cliff in the first place. Neither Orquestra nor its component parts, Alto and Baixo, had blades long enough to cause meaningful damage, and Baixo’s alt-form of a machine pistol didn’t have enough stopping power to do more than annoy the thing.

I only had two real options for actually hurting a Grimm like this. Alto’s gun form, a magnum-esque hand cannon-type pistol, was definitely strong enough to give it pause, but only if the bullets didn’t deflect off of its armor. The other option was making use of Tempo’s second effect, but I’d only have one shot at it before being left low on Aura and down a weapon. Given the situation, neither was particularly desirable.

“Working on it!” Aaron replied frantically, before his eyes widened. “Look out!” 

We dove aside as Maxie’s flailing body crashed down next to us. The poor guy ended up carving a furrow in the ground before crashing into one of the larger trees and slumping down, momentarily stunned by the impact.

I rolled to my feet, facing the roaring Murder Cowl as it fixated on the three of us, maw opening for another of those fire attacks. There wasn’t any time to try and dodge, and besides there was no way of getting Maxie out of the way, even with Aaron already helping him to his feet. So all I could do was take aim with Alto and pull the trigger.

Thankfully, my aim was true. The high-caliber bullet tore into the Murder Cowl’s open mouth, sending it reeling. The fire breath fizzled away as the Grimm roared in pain, stumbling back slightly before fixing me with a hateful glare. A follow-up bullet glanced off of its face, just narrowly missing its eye, and from the Grimm’s response I could tell it had clearly had enough of my shit.

Before I could try to hit it again, the Grimm turned, using its tail to smash into some nearby trees. There was a loud rumble and some crashing, and I paled upon seeing that the Murder Cowl had splintered and launched several massive tree trunks in our direction. I had just enough time to mutter a deadpan “Shit” before we had to protect ourselves from the barrage.

Aaron sprang into action, leaping forwards and smacking aside most of the smaller logs with a shout of effort. His Aura blazed around him, most likely an aftereffect of his Semblance boosting his capabilities beyond normal. Maxie tried to use his weapon’s gun to shatter some of the larger tree trunks, though his aim was still a little shaky from his trip into the tree. 

I did my best to help, activating Tempo on one of the pieces that Aaron and Maxie had missed. I winced at the drain in Aura, but the ballistic log slowed down long enough for me to switch Alto and Baixo into their machete forms and use them to knock it aside when I canceled my Semblance.

Another roar drew my attention back to the Murder Cowl, which was preparing another breath attack. It went to fire again, but this time a bunch of glowing blue strings from Serra wrapped around its head, jerking it upwards and making it miss. My partner ran over, panting slightly from the strain of pulling the thing away. 

“We need to slow this fucking thing down!” she said as she skidded to a stop near us. 

“I got it!” Maxie called out, and I saw a compartment on his cross slide open. He reached inside to pull out a pair of… were those grenades?

“Open your mouths, and cover your eyes and ears!” he yelled, before pulling the pins and tossing them at the Murder Cowl. I had just enough time to follow his advice before they exploded in a blinding flash of light and a roar of sound. 

When I opened my eyes, I saw the Murder Cowl staggering back and flailing about wildly, roaring in pain and clearly incapacitated by Maxie’s flashbangs. I was tempted to try and take it out right then and there, but with how it was swinging about none of us would be able to get close.

Still, Maxie had bought us some time, and based on the look on Aaron’s face he was in the process of figuring something out. “Hey, Reseda, what’s your Semblance exactly?” he asked, slowly.

“Tempo,” I replied shortly, not taking my eyes off the blindly rampaging Grimm. “Single-target slow or speed buff.”

“Maxie?”

"Beast. All power and healing for two minute before I go feral. I can get stronger, but only for a bit. Then The Beast takes over,” Maxie explained. Beast? That didn’t sound encouraging. It must’ve been enough for Aaron though, because he was nodding and grinning like someone who had a plan.

“Serra?”

“Literally just string,” she snarked. “More visible it is the stronger it is. I've got enough Aura to sustain something like the tree again for like 2 minutes.”

“That’s all we’ll need. Alright, listen up! I’ve got a plan to put this thing down permanently. Here’s what you all will have to do…” 

Maxie

Dad’s plan was good. We led the Murder Cowl on a merry chase through the forest until we found a clear path to the cliffside. The only thing now was that I needed to hold the thing down, and there was only one way I could do that. I let Punisher drop to the ground as I took out my Scroll, opening the appropriate app and strapping it to my wrist.

**2:00**

I immediately dropped into a crouch on all fours and closed my eyes.  _ Give the leash some slack. Let it run, but not wild. Be calm. _ I took a deep breath and activated my Semblance.  _ And now, I a _ **_m ready_ ** .  **_Time to rip and tear_ ** . 

**"Serra, hop on,"** I told her, my voice coming out as a guttural growl. She flinched for a second, before hopping onto my back and securing herself there with her strings. I quickly glanced back to give her a feral grin before tensing up. “ **Hold on tight.”**

I made sure she was secure before launching myself at the Cowl. Rearing back my arm, I punched it hard in the side before it had the chance to react. There was a loud CRACK and an eruption of pain on my end as I felt several bones in my arm break, but I’d put a very sizable mark in its outer armor. The Grimm let out a lovely scream as the pain hit it, and it tried to swipe a claw at where I was standing. 

I sidestepped it easily. **_Everything is so slow in this form,_** I thought as I watched the claw whizz by, inches away from crushing us. There were several cracks and pops as my Semblance went to work, boosting my Aura’s natural healing to absurd levels as the bones in my arm realigned themselves and fused back together.

**"Slowpoke,"** I taunted as I leapt away, feeling the ground crack under my feet as my right foot splintered from the effort. My newly fixed arm flashed out, gripping a nearby tree branch so tightly that the bark splintered under my ringers. I ignored the strain in my muscles, instead grinning viciously as I spun around to land feet-first on it..

**1:30**

The poor tree branch shattered underneath me as I kicked off of it. I smashed fists-first into the Murder Cowl, and launched a series of rapid strikes against its eyes, throat, and any other vulnerable spot I could find. All the while, I felt my body being destroyed and reconstructed at an insane rate.  **_Thank goodness I wear red,_ ** I thought absently, ignoring the pain with the ease of experience. **_It’s so hard to wash out all the blood._ **

Despite my focus narrowing down to just myself and my target, I could still make out contributions from Serra, who’d hopped off earlier and was launching her chakrams at the Grimm. Several of the blades found flesh, while others simply deflected off of its armor, spinning through the air for me to use as makeshift kick-off points.

**:45**

After a few more seconds of vicious pummeling, the Grimm was left looking nearly as broken and battered as I felt. It couldn’t keep up with how quickly I was maneuvering around it, and eventually resorted to curling up and letting me waste my energy on its natural armor. I hopped over to where its tail lay, looking back over my shoulder at the cliff face and preparing for my second role in Dad’s plan.

**"Sticking to walls should be easy for a lizard right?"** I gripped the Murder Cowl’s giant tail  _ hard _ , before closing my eyes and focusing. My back tore, my bones cracked, veins burst, and joints snapped, all to be healed in almost the same moment. With a cry of effort I began to spin, dragging the Grimm around as it snapped and snarled helplessly. And finally, with a massive roar I let go, sending the Grimm flying into the cliff side with enough to send cracks racing up it.

" **Did… my part…"** I gasped, falling back to the ground with a muffled scream of pain as the adrenaline started to wear off. I tried to close my eyes and calm my heart rate. Tried to calm the Beast. Tried to… calm… force it back down. All I could do now was lay there, watching everyone else go to work. 

Serra leapt forwards as I fell, with her last chakram in hand. She swung it towards a chink in the Murder Cowl’s armor, and a large, jagged blade of water lashed out, following her swing arc and carving a deep furrow in the struggling Grimm’s chest. A second swing followed, with the resulting gash crossing the first and leaving behind a massive “X.”

Shortly after, glowing blue strings wrapped around my limbs and torso to whisk me away from the Murder Cowl. When she’d set me down on stable ground, she turned her attention to the Grimm. A massive, bright blue web sprung from her fingertips, encasing the lizard in so much string that it looked like a struggling cocoon, with only the “X” left uncovered.

“Aaron, it’s now or never!” she shouted, voice straining under the effort she needed to keep the Grimm contained, and I slowly, carefully turned my head so that I could see Dad and Reseda doing their part of the plan. Despite the immense amount of pain from having my Semblance active and from having to suppress the Beast, I couldn’t help but gape as I saw what they were pulling off.

Aaron

I had spent the last 2 minutes catching my breath next to Reseda, trying to cycle some of my time limit back, since I had almost run out in the earlier scuffle against the Cowl. I was also running dangerously low on Aura from keeping my Semblance active, and I needed as much of that as possible for our part of the plan.

As soon as Maxie’s Semblance wore off, I jumped up, tossed my staff as high as I could in the air and ran back about thirty feet, getting into a runner’s starting stance. My body was covered in an orange glow and I bit my lip as I channeled my Semblance. This fight had taken up a lot of my total time, and I was already fighting a headache from using it too long at once. I felt my muscles grow, my joints pop, and my entire body swelled by almost two inches, while at the same time my brain began processing information faster and clearer. I saw my staff twirl in the air, slowing down dramatically when Reseda used his Semblance on it. In my enhanced state, it looked to be falling through molasses.

I could tell I only had 10 seconds of Overcharge left, and that was a highball number. We only had one shot. So, I had to wait for the perfect moment. 

As soon as I heard Serra yell, I ran as fast as my Semblance would let me. As I reached the spot my boosted brain figured to be the best, I leaped up to my staff, and Reseda canceled his hold on the weapon. I took a breath and pulled back my arm, narrowing my focus as the weapon spun, until…  _ There!  _ I hit the end of my weapon with a palm strike at full power as Reseda hit used his Semblance again, this time boosting my staff’s speed as much as he could..

Unable to resist, I let out a loud, but tired, “T-t-t-take  _ this _ !” There was a loud BOOM as the weapon lanced through the air at ludicrously high speed, flying straight at the bound Grimm. My aim was true, and my staff struck right through the center of the X that Serra had been so nice to provide. The bright blue strings dissipated as the Grimm roared in agony and the fire in its throat lit up, only for it to immediately dim. The Grimm slowly started to dissolve as I landed flat on back, exhausted and bleeding from the nose as my Semblance took its toll for overuse. 

I looked up, still woozy, and remarked, louder than I would have normally, “Hey… Either I’m crazy, possibly delirious from exhaustion, or that’s a giant headless Nevermore falling off a cliff… Glad to know things are still mostly canon~” Unfortunately, I couldn’t quite see anyone from the future teams RWBY or JNPR from where I was. 

I rolled over and just barely managed to stand myself up with Reseda’s help, and made my way over to the others on shaky legs. I more or less regained my ability to walk unassisted after a bit, and went to help Maxie up first. “You ok, kiddo?”

“Yeah, Dad, I’m okay.” He clearly wasn’t, but I let it slide for now. 

Serra looked confused, and narrowed her eyes at me. “Found family, right? But you’re only a few years older than Maxie, not a big enough gap to be a father figure to him. He also from Earth?”

“You guys are from Earth too?” Reseda asked, clearly surprised. “I thought I was the only one until I ran into Serra.”

“Yeah, and we only found out because I kept on messaging him cursed shit.”

“With the help of a Pokemon theme, don’t forget,” her partner chuckled. “We should head back to the others and actually complete the test now that the Grimm’s dead. We can talk later, after we’re in teams.” A Pokemon theme? That’s a story I couldn’t wait to hear.

“Good point,” I said. “Maxie, you good to walk?”

“...No, fuck that, have you even seen yourselves?” Serra demanded, and strings snaked out to wrap around my torso. The same happened to Maxie, hoisting us both slightly above the ground. “I can sustain this for… maybe 5 or so minutes, that’s plenty of time to scale the cliff and shit. I can’t believe I’m the one that’s worried about other people, for once.”

I blinked, confused, before I remembered I was hurt. Guess I can still ignore pain after all. “I’m fine, Serra,” I  whined replied with as much strength as I could muster. “I don’t even feel any pain!” There was a pause, and then it hit. “Oh, there it is. Aaaaaahhhh.”

“Adrenaline’s faded. Fucking sucks, doesn’t it? C’mon Reseda, let’s go, I’ve got the idiots.” All 6 chakrams were pulled back to the bag Serra was wearing, and they slid into the opening in the bottom before a string redid the clasp keeping the bag shut.

After a couple minutes of slow, painful walking, we’d made it back to the cliffside, and a familiar red mop of hair peeked out from the top.

"Do you guys need help?" Ruby called down to us in concern.

“Nah, I’ve got the idiots!” Serra replied. All of a sudden, everyone's weapons started to glow black and float to the top of the cliff, and Serra yelped when her bag started lifting her into the air. “The fuck?!” I saw that Serra’s side pouch was also trying to lift her leg up, so there were probably even more metal things in there. The arm guards and shin guards she was wearing were also lifting her up.

Reseda was also lifted into the air, with the same black glow surrounding his suit jacket and pulling him up. It must’ve had some metal woven into it also, because there was only one Semblance I could think of that was doing this for us. His reaction was surprisingly dull, as if he was just completely done with today. And honestly, I could sympathize. Important future conversations aside, all I wanted to do right now was fall asleep and never wake up.

"I'm sorry,” Pyrrha said apologetically from atop the cliff, “But this will make it go faster. Just hold on tight, you two." Yang, Ren, and Nora hopped down too.

"Here, we got them,” Yang grinned amicably as she hooked her arms under mine and swung me onto her back. “The least we can do for future classmates is help out, especially after that badass stunt you guys pulled."

"And I do owe… Maxie, is it?" Ren added with a slight nod of the head. “He did help me out of a tough spot earlier, after all.”

"Pretty boy for the win," Maxie mumbled, still slightly out of it. Nora giggled as she gently booped him on the nose, then hoisted him over hers and Ren’s shoulders.

“So I guess I’m not gonna be carrying them,” Serra commented, and the strings around me and Maxie vanished. “C’mon, lets scale the cliff and get this shit over with.”

"We made friends…" Maxie said with a dopey smile on his face from his position between the two. The strain of his Semblance must’ve become too much, because he then proceeded to pass out.

Serra

“Aaron Jaspar, Reseda Antem, and Serra Azurite,” the headmaster said, “You 3 and Maximus Roja retrieved the White Queen pieces, although Maximus is currently in a recovery room. From this day forward, you will work together as team AMRS-” 

Huh, we get a flower as a team name. Not bad, not bad.

“-led by Aaron Jaspar.”

A wave of relief swept over me, and I saw Reseda sag slightly as well. Neither of us were ‘leader’ type people, not really, so it was nice to know that we wouldn’t have to stress over leading a 4 man team.

Aaron, on the other hand, had paled a little bit upon hearing that, so I felt some pity. But it wasn’t me, so I didn’t really care.

Upon scaling the cliff, Maxie had been immediately carted off to a recovery room due to the sheer amount of damage dealt to him. He looked like he healed from that pretty well, but Aura only went so far and one only has so much Aura, so it was a good call to cart him off to the med bay.

After all the decorum and shit was done and over with, we headed off towards the dorms together. Honestly, I was extremely tired, so I was probably going to pass out the second I hit the bed. No hammock tonight, I’d just have to deal with it.

“Oh, I forgot the dorms were co-ed.” Aaron face-palmed when Reseda opened the door and we stepped in. We were next to team JNPR, with team RWBY being across the hall and one door to the left.

“They are? Fuck,” I groaned, immediately heading over to the bed at the right corner and spotting my stuff. “Okay, ground rule: touch my things without permission and I castrate you, got that clear?” My big chakrams were big enough to decapitate a person, but the smaller ones in my pouches would be sufficient if I wanted to do that. “Also, this bed is mine. What’s the schedule?”

“Uhhh…” Reseda squinted at the notification on his Scroll. “Breakfast starts at 7:30, and classes start at 9 o’clock sharp.”

We all took a moment to process that, and then all 3 of us let out a loud groan.

Well, it looks like my skills of waking up late and just barely making it to school in time are gonna come in handy, huh. I hope I don’t have to consistently skip breakfast to make it on time like I did back on earth though; that would suck.

Aaron all but plopped down on his bed and let out a tired groan. “Talk about important shit now while it’s fresh, or tomorrow, once we’re much less tired?”

“I dunno, man, Maxie’s not here and it doesn’t feel right to leave him out of the discussion,” I said, shucking my chakram pouch and bag onto the dresser and rubbing my eyes.

Reseda looked between us. “Once Maxie’s out of recovery?”

“Sure,” came the tired groan from our worn out new leader. “May as well hit the hay.”

“Rip my hammock, I hate setting them up,” I muttered lowly before collapsing face first into the mattress. “Fuck this shit, I hate waking up early. It sucks.”

“What time did you have to wake up before?” Reseda asked. “In your previous combat school, I mean.”

“Fucking 8:30, man,” I said, voice muffled by the bed. “Classes started at 9 and my teachers just got used to me being out of uniform because they couldn’t do shit about it. I’m a master of waking up late but getting there on time.”

“Cool. I call the other corner bed,” Reseda said, and I could hear his footsteps walking over to it. “I guess Maxie’s gonna have to take that last middle one.”

“Yeah, he will,” I said drowsily. “You reckon we’ll get the chance to customize this place tomorrow? As nice as this bed is, I wanna ditch it for a hammock as soon as I can.”

“Eh, sure, we probably will,” was the reply I got. “For now, let’s just clean up and go to sleep.”

Well, we can all agree on that.

Roman Torchwick could honestly say he was having his first good day in a while. He even hummed a little tune to himself as he walked between the warehouses.  _ Aside from that Red fiasco, we’re actually a little ahead of schedule. Riptide did have a point when he said that murder is bad for business, although I don't think my latest associate feels the same. Not worth the trouble, that one, even if she’s making me  _ rich _ , and keeping me alive _ he thought grimly, twirling his cane as he lit a cigar. There was a blur of movement in the corner of his vision, and Neo floated down from a nearby roof using her umbrella.

"Ah yes, my lovely partner in crime,” Roman said with a genuine smile, tilting his hat while Neo responded in kind with a mocking curtsey. Vale’s most prolific thief gave a small laugh as they locked elbows. “So my dear, any news that would compliment this lovely night?"

Neo just silently held up two fingers, and her image briefly shimmered and turned hazy. It re-materialized into a short black haired boy bearing a neon blue hoodie and a white mask with a simple black smiley face on the front of it that covered his entire face. A sword hilt was at his left hip, and several pouches were on his person. She’d turned into a spitting image of Riptide, a solo thief with a notable bounty and quite the reputation. Roman and Neo had crossed paths with them several times before, and he thought of the young man as a promising potential rival, if not a tentative ally.

"Ha, speak of the devil,” he chuckled, taking his cigar and twirling it idly between his fingers. “I was just thinking about him. We should text for a meet up. A simple robbery, for old times sake. Though… we should try and avoid them meeting Cinder,” Neo’s facsimile of Riptide shattered, revealing the grimace that’d shown on her face. “Yes I know my dear, I don't like her either. But all we need to do is obtain some Dust, and move some product. Simple business that lets us stay alive at the end of it all.

“Though I do admit,” he continued with a scowl of his own, “Forcing us to work with those  _ savages _ in the White Fang is quite frankly insulting.” Despite the act he put on, Roman didn’t hate the Faunus race as a whole. The Fang’s complete loss of all class, however, as well as their penchant towards terrorism as of late, were quite simply ridiculous, and riling them up about it was just too much fun to pass up. “Who did she say our contact was?" 

Neo couldn't help but look away at that question, prompting Roman to stop walking and eye his right hand warily. Not many things made someone like Neo nervous.

"How bad is it?" he asked, eyebrows arched. There was another shimmer, and Neo was replaced by a brute of a girl dressed in a red-furred set of barbaric armor. She was easily 6 feet tall, and a long braid of navy blue hair trailed down her back, ending in a large spiked ball. Her body was toned from years of fighting and training, and scars were laced all across her exposed skin. Large dual clubs hung from each hip, and her teeth had clearly been sharpened at some point in her life. A large pair of wolf ears twitched on her head as she snarled menacingly, eyes flashing a dangerous shade of red.

Roman ran a hand over his face with a groan. "They’re sending me Caligula Roja?” He glanced despairingly at the cigar in his hand. “I’m gonna need something stronger than this if that’s the case.”

Serra

Bzzzt! Bzzt!

“What the fuck?” I muttered, feeling for my scroll and suppressing a groan at the unholy time of day blinking back at me. “Who texted me?”

_Fake Arsonist_ : Hello, Riptide. Do you feel up to a little heist?

_ Best Ice Cream:  _ $^$

Roman? Why the fuck was  _ Roman _ inviting me to a heist, of all people? The dude usually kept to his own lane, and I haven’t been in a co-op heist ever since Weaver bit the dust and I made Lupin pay the price for it. He didn’t die, the cops got to him in time, but that was the first time I’d gotten so close to killing someone one more attack would have finished him off.

Also, timing. Absolutely ratshit timing for a heist. I didn’t have a path to get back into Vale proper yet, let alone getting back into Beacon in a timely manner.

_ Actual Arsonist: _ When’s the heist? I have things to take care of, they won’t be done until 2 or so weeks later and they can’t be skipped

_ Fake Arsonist: _ Hm. Odd considering your usual schedule, but manageable. Heist is in 2 weeks on a Saturday at 11 pm. Meet me and Neo on the last rooftop before the residential district in the commercial district

Damn… I should have given myself more time. But a Saturday is manageable, and I’ll probably have a route planned out by then. Plus, I’m fairly sure our weekends are free game so long as we get back to Beacon on time, so I should be good. If not, I have a stressful heist ahead of me.

_ Actual Arsonist: _ Nice. What’re we stealing?

_ Fake Arsonist: _ Oh, just some Dust is all.

_ Actual Arsonist: _ You wouldn’t have invited me to a co-op heist if it was just ‘some Dust’, I’m not stupid. Let me guess, a Schnee Dust based store with more than the usual security?

_ Fake Arsonist: _ Nothing gets past you, does it, Riptide. Yes, that’s what we’re hitting.

_ Best Ice Cream:  _ $$$$

I stared at the screen with annoyance. Seriously, Roman? As a rule, I didn’t hit up things like warehouses unless they weren’t Schnee owned or anything of the like, purely because the amount of security made me want to tear out my hair. This was coming dangerously close to infringing on that rule.

_ Actual Arsonist: _ What’s the split?

_ Fake Arsonist: _ What you can take is yours, what you find is yours as well, although much of the Dust will be ours. Since you don’t hire men, you can stash what you find somewhere else and transfer them after the raid is over

So basically the dude just wanted me to help him break into a store and then reap the profits. Eh… not the best, not the worst, I’ll still get some Dust out of it, and probably some Lien too.

_ Actual Arsonist: _ I’ll be there. Now stop texting me I’m trying to sleep

I turned off my scroll, put it back on the dresser, and immediately fell back to sleep. It was too early for illegal shit, even though my outings usually kept me up till 3 or 4 am. If I could sleep, I would sleep, and honestly I don’t need my sleep schedule more fucked than it already is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading. What's been your favorite parts so far? And don't forget to comment~~ It feeds us


	6. Catching Up

**Chapter 5: Catching Up**

Serra

I woke up to someone screaming, which was definitely not how I thought my first morning in the dorms would go. “Who the fuck is that?” I muttered, forcing my eyes open and squinting against the light coming from the window.

“Sorry, sorry!” Aaron said, and I looked down to see him on the floor tangled in bedsheets. “The whistle startled me really badly.”

“Wha- a fucking whistle? From who?”

“Across the hall, I think-? No, Ruby must’ve done it,” Aaron mused, sitting up. “First day in the dorms, right? That means they’re gonna decorate their room really, really badly.”

I turned on my scroll, and made a face at the time. 8:40 am, which meant that I had 10 minutes to get dressed and freshen up before scarfing down breakfast and heading to class. “It’s 8:40 am guys, so you’re gonna have to rush.” No change for me, it looks like. “Hey, are they gonna get pissed if I don’t wear the uniform at all?”

"I checked the rules, female students can wear pants from the boy’s uniform. Comfort is key to learning, according to the handbook,” Aaron said.

“Thank fuck, I was planning on burning the thing altogether,” I sighed. “Nah, I’m asking if I ditch the entire thing and just wear a hoodie.”

"Ruby wears a cloak, so a hoodie should be fine. Just make it a school one."

“Free money to an already rich as fuck school because they want students to wear the merch, yaaaay,” I said sarcastically, getting up and stretching. “Reseda, you up?”

“Yup,” was the groggy reply I got. “God, the first day of schedule adjustment is always the worst,” my partner grumbled as he lurched out of bed. “Serra, you alright with changing in the bathroom? Since this is co-ed and all that.” 

“Yeah, I’m good. You guys better hurry up, though, we’ve got 10 minutes to get ready and maybe 10 minutes to eat depending on how long we take.” I gathered my things and slipped into the bathroom, locking the door. After I was done I quickly took care of hygiene before unlocking the door and going back out again, depositing my pajamas on my bed to take care of later.

“That was fast,” Reseda noted as he buttoned up his shirt. His jacket and tie were already laying on his bed. 

“Yeah, it's called practice.” I deadpanned, grabbing my scroll and putting on my pendant while strapping my pouch on. “Hurry up, we don’t want to be late.”

“What happens if we _ are _ late?” Aaron asked as he did up his tie with enviable ease.

“I dunno, but honestly I’d rather make it to class on time than deal with that awkward period where you walk in and everyone’s staring at you.” 

None of the other teams that shared our hallway -namely JNPR and RWBY- had their doors open, and I could hear some loud noises coming from team RWBY’s room. Namely, the sound of wood screeching against a hard surface.

“What the fuck are they doing to their dorm room?” I muttered lowly, suppressing the urge to open the door and take a look as I adjusted my chakram bag.

Reseda took a more direct approach, walking up to the door and knocking on it. “Hey, whatever remodeling you’re doing in there you’d better finish up quick! Class is in like 15 minutes!” he said, and there was a brief pause before the screeching of the wood doubled in intensity.

“Uh… are they moving the beds or something?”

“Yep,” Aaron replied with a grin as he walked on, jacket slung over one shoulder. “They’re making the most structurally unsound set of bunk beds you’ll have ever seen.”

“Exactly how unsound?” I asked warily.

“One of them is held up by stacks of books, and the other’s upper half is suspended directly from the ceiling.” Aaron couldn’t help but laugh at my and Reseda’s incredulous expressions.

“I will not be surprised at all if we wake up to the sound of one of the beds falling,” I groaned.

We walked on for a few minutes before something kinda important occurred to me. "Hey, do either of you know where the Grimm Studies class is?”

There was a pause before both Aaron and Reseda facepalmed. “Goddammit,” they grumbled, before Reseda pulled out his Scroll, opening up the student app that Beacon had made us download after team assignments.

“Hmm…” he mumbled absently as he swiped through several files, “So, according to the syllabus, Grimm Studies classes are held in the Lecture Dome, which is actually really close to both the dining hall and the dorms. And there are only four halls in there, so it won’t even be too hard to find the place when we’re inside.”

“Lecture Dome, huh? What, they like the lecture halls I always heard about? I never got to that point in life, so I dunno what it’s like to be in one,” I said, quickly putting my Scroll on mute just in case Roman decided to text me again.

“It is supposed to be the equivalent to college from back home,” Reseda pointed out as we entered the dining hall.

“I bit the dust before high school,” I deadpanned. “I don’t know jack shit about college besides the fact that tuition costs too much in the US.” That more or less killed any remaining conversation we could have had.

Breakfast was a quick affair, and thankfully we were able to find our class without much of an issue. The sign on the door was a pretty big hint, too.

“Holy  _ shit _ this place is massive,” I marveled, staring at the wide room as we walked in. It looked like around the same area of Roman’s preferred warehouse, which was pretty big in and of itself. Several drawings of Grimm were hanging on the walls near the front of the class, and for some reason I decided not to think about the fact that there was a massive cage that occasionally rattled. “Who’s teaching this class?”

"That would be me, my dear. Professor Peter Port. Famed Hunter and Master of the Hunting Arts.” The professor was a large man with gray hair and wearing a dark red tailcoat who stood at the front of the room. His eyes seemed almost permanently closed, and his smile was hidden under his admittedly impressive mustache.

...I’ve been in this man’s presence for less than a minute and I can already tell this isn’t gonna be fun. 

It must have shown on my face, because Aaron leaned down and whispered in my ear while we were walking towards the seats. “Blowhard, but well-earned. He’s no Lockhart.”

“If you say so…” 

“He’s more like an actually competent Binns.”

“Oh fuck, my attention span’s gonna go poof,” I muttered. “Time to fidget with a chakram and hopefully not fall asleep.” Competent Binns still meant boredom, and a voice that was deader than a doornail. 

“Don’t worry, I have a plan. The four of us will rotate who stays awake in his class. Reseda, you’re up first.”

I frowned. “Wouldn’t he notice?”

"Just try not to snore, and we’ll wake you up when he brings in the Grimm.”

Once class started, Professor Port cleared his throat and started to talk, and I immediately started zoning out, occasionally paying attention when a particular word or phrase caught my interest. Aaron looked like he was gonna pass out on the spot, but Reseda looked like he was handling it better than I was.

After a few more minutes or so, half the students were either passed out or considering the perks of a #2 pencil lobotomy. Not to say Professor Port didn't have knowledge, though. He actually had very helpful knowledge about the biology and quirks of the Grimm he had hunted. it's just that they were buried in stories so long that he really,  _ really _ should have accounted for the attention span of teenagers.

After 20 more minutes of Professor Port’s voice being background noise, I’d taken out a pencil and was now carving into it with one of the knives I kept on my person to make it look like a sword, having given up entirely on paying any attention whatsoever.

Aaron

"Okay, gotta admit the Grimm was awesome," I admitted as we left the class room.

“I mean, I’ve seen Boarbatusks before at Signal, but this was the first time I’ve seen one handled in such a manner,” Reseda commented. Serra was saying something too, but my attention was stolen by a flurry of movement coming back from the lecture hall.

_ And… there we go, like clockwork.  _ I watched Weiss storm down the hall after what must’ve been her big argument with Ruby. But the part that surprised me was Blake rushing out of the lecture hall before nearly running down the opposite end.  _ Wonder what that's about? Wait. Isn't medical that way?  _

That reminds me. “Hey guys, shall we go check on Maxie?” __

Reseda and Serra were prevented from responding by the appearance of Ozpin. “Ah, Mr. Jaspar,” the headmaster said. “I do believe we should have a conversation regarding…  _ certain matters _ ."

"Any chance we can put a hold on it?” I asked, ignoring the looks I was getting from my teammates. “I was gonna check on Maxie."

"Oh, there is no need for concern, Mr. Jaspar,” Ozpin replied. “Maxie will be quite alright. He’s merely going through his final checks with our medical personnel, who would not appreciate being disturbed. Now if you wouldn't mind following me to my office. I do believe we should make a small pit stop," he said, eyeing where Weiss and Ruby had gone.

I looked back at my teammates. “I’ll catch up, guys. This could take a bit. See you at lunch. Save me a seat?”

They both nodded and went on, and I turned and followed this world’s greatest wizard off to his tower. Of course, he stopped off to talk to Ruby first, but I stayed out of the way for that one.

“Ruby, I’ve made more mistakes than every man, woman, and child on this planet, and some of them were very recent… but, at the moment, I do not consider your appointment to leader to be one of them.”

_ Maxie, what did you do when you got here? What happened even before you arrived? Questions for later, I guess… _ I mused over my thoughts across the school grounds and into the gigantic Beacon Tower, up the elevator, and into the spacious head office and into one of the chairs in front of the desk.

“So, Mr Jaspar, I can tell from Mr Roja’s reaction and messages to me that you’re from where he is. So, tell me… what, exactly, do you plan on doing while you’re here?”

I mulled over that for a moment, and then sat up straighter in my chair. I knew what I needed to do… what I’d tried and failed to do a few months back.

“There’s a lot that I want to do, but I guess the most important things right now are trying to help your group with its enemies, and more importantly, with your basement dweller… Ozma.”

Ozpin stopped. There was no other way to describe it. I could even make out the slight expression of shock on his face under his coffee mug before his expression smoothed over.

“I see.” He put the mug back down on his desk, revealing the burning determination and ceaseless will of a man far, far older than his current body. “Then, Mr. Jaspar, I think you can consider yourself excused from classes for the rest of the day. We have much to discuss.”

Maxie

"So Miss Goodie, are my bones stronger now?” I asked my second favorite teacher as I put on my uniform. “All these breaks probably made them harder than steel by now!" I swear I saw a vein in her forehead as she sighed.

"Bones do not work like that. Bones should not work like that," she replied, absently studying the medical clipboard on my bed. 

"I hear a ‘but’ somewhere in there," I sang, before grumbling as I tried to tie the evil noose around my neck. Miss Goodie quietly stood up and began to fix my tie for me.

"Whether as an intended side effect or not, your body is getting more and more accustomed to the level of power that your Semblance gives,” she sighed. “So your bones are, in fact, strengthening as a result of your actions.”

Before I could even try and celebrate, she fixed me with one of her  _ looks _ . “This is  _ not _ a carte blanche to do this again,” she said sternly. “You will not be coming back to this room anytime soon. Is that understood, Maximus?” 

Hearing this, I locked eyes with this woman, one of only two people I would actually consider close to being my mother. Years of teaching me, holding me when I had a nightmare, and believing in me. Something I had only briefly before leaving the island and practically none in my previous life. Before I knew it, I was hugging her close and trying not to cry.

"Thank you," I said softly, trying not to have my voice break. It took a moment, but then I felt her arms around me.

"For what?" She asked, rubbing circles into my back and calming my nerves.

"For caring," I replied hoarsely, thinking about my past mothers. In response, Miss Goodie laughed softly and gave me a gentle squeeze.

"You make it easy, you injury prone wonder,” she said, giving me one more pat before pulling away. I pretended not to notice her discreetly wiping away tears. 

“Now,” Goodwitch eventually said, returning to using her official Professor Voice, “You have two more classes today. But,” she said, checking a message on her tablet, “You will have a guest visiting you shortly. I would suggest you head to your dorm afterwards, as you have sat in on these classes enough to afford missing the first day. Your possessions will have already been moved by then." 

I tilted my head in confusion as she made her way towards the door. "What guest?" And then the door opened, and Blake walked in looking decidedly angry.  _...Can I make it out the window before I get caught?  _ Before I could even try, I was surrounded in a purple glow and jerked back onto the bed.

"Maximus, a gentleman does not flee from a justifiably angry woman. As you were, Miss Belladonna." The traitor ignored my pleading glance, sweeping out of the room and leaving me to my feline fate. 

I looked back to Blake, who stalked ominously towards me. Eyes hidden by her bangs, each step echoing in my head like a drum., I was paralyzed as she stepped closer.

"Cain Roja," she muttered, and I flinched slightly at the use of my old name.  _ Time to show off your social skills, Maxie,  _ I sighed, before going for it.

"Hey BB. I like your bow." In response, I got a punch to the chest that felt like it cracked my ribs.  _ Smooth, Maxie, real smooth. I just had these fixed, too. _

"Six years,” she trembled, still looking down and keeping her eyes hidden. I couldn’t do anything but sit there while she loomed over me. “When we heard what happened, me, Mom, and Dad scoured the entirety of Menagerie. We spent days looking for you. Adam refused to say what happened, and he always walked away when you were brought up. We…  _ I _ thought you were dead." 

Blake raised her head, and I was stunned to see tears threatened to spill from her eyes. I didn't say anything. What could I have said? I flinched as Blake surged forwards, but felt warmth all around me as Blake hugged me tight to her chest.

"But you're alive,” she whispered, and I felt wet spots land on my head. “Thank everything you're alive and happy.” Before I knew I was crying too, thankful that my first friend in this world didn't hate me. We stayed like this for a few minutes before we separated and Blake sat down on the bed next to me. Before she could open her mouth, I held up a hand.

"I won't talk about what happened between me and Adam that night. At least not right now,” I told her, trying to convey as much conviction as possible in my eyes. “I don't think either of us is ready to talk about him." She just gave a small nod, visibly forcing the question down for another one.

"Then what happened afterwards? Why didn't you come to our house? Dad and Mom could have helped you," Blake asked, leaning forward intently.

"Funny thing is, I started to run straight there but then I realised something. The more extreme aspects of the White Fang would have said your Dad somehow made me attack Adam,” I explained. “And the last thing anyone wants to do is offer my family justification for a fight. Not that they ever needed it," I muttered at the end, absently rubbing an old scar on my neck.

"We still would have protected you. You were just a child," she protested, eyes soft as she started to rub my head. I gave her a sad smile as I remembered my childhood.

_ My family didn't want a child. They wanted a warrior _ . “What did  _ they _ say when they found out?" I asked her, smiling softly at the warmth of her hand despite the attempted change in topic. 

"Your father Alcides declared you coward and a traitor, and that you’re to be killed on sight by any member of the Fang. Your sister didn't seem to care, but your mother… she disappeared." Blake shivered at that last part. 

_ Oh yeah, Mom being MIA is terrifying. A psycho Esdeath who loves poison needs to be watched. _

"Yeah that sounds about right,” I laughed, showing humor I didn’t feel before launching into my backstory. “Anyways, I ran to the harbor and stole a small boat before setting off to sea. Two storms and some horrible seafaring later, and I washed up on a beach a few hundred miles from Vale. Lived off the land for about a year. Fighting Grimm, stealing from small villages—only what I needed to live, of course—and eventually Ozzie and Goodie showed up. Apparently, someone spread rumors about me being a humanoid Grimm, and they had to check it out. Next thing I know, I’ve spent the next 5 years as a ward of Beacon Academy."

Blake just looked at me for a moment before falling back on the bed with a sigh, with hair hanging over the edge. I flopped down next to her and for a long moment we didn’t say anything, just gazing blankly at the ceiling.

"Oh, yeah,” I added, “I also changed my name to Maximus." 

"I figured, what with everyone calling you Maxie,” Blake replied with a smile. “It fits you far better than ‘Cain’ ever did. And one more thing," she said, taking out her Scroll and pressing a few buttons before holding it out above us so that we were both in view.

"What are you doing?" I asked, only to be answered by a very familiar face appearing on the screen.

"Oh Blake, honey, we thought you were gonna call us on Saturday. Why the… early…” Aunt Kali trailed off as she realized that it was really me lying next to Blake. “...Cain?" she asked, voice nearly breaking as she held her hands up to her face.  _ Oh my god _ , I realized, _ Blake didn't cut her parents out of her life.  _

"Uh… hey, Aunt Kali,” I said hesitantly, “It’s actually Maximus now." Next thing I knew, her face completely vanished from view as she presumably sprinted through the Belladonna house.

"GHIRA!!! GHIRA!!! CAIN IS ALIVE!!!" I couldn’t help but blush at the sheer joy in her voice as Blake chuckled next to me.  _ I hate my cat sister so much _ . While I waited for the torrent of emotion from her parents to subside I decided to examine the bow hiding Blake's ears.

"Still a little scared, huh?" I asked, causing her to flinch slightly.

"I… want to give myself a bit of leeway before revealing it to my… my team,” she explained, turning to look at me. “They seem nice. But I need time." I could only nod at that.

"Well, Snow Bun—I mean, Weiss, seems… unique,” I offered, trying my best to be helpful. “Ruby seems powered more by sugar than actual blood, and Yang seems just like your type. You do have a thing for blondes," I teased gently, poking her cheeks. 

She bit my finger in response, but I noticed the slight blush coloring her cheeks. Before I could capitalize, though, there was a flurry of noise from Blake’s Scroll. A mountain of a man filled the screen, taking me aback when he started to cry tears of joy along with his wife.  _ Oh… This is gonna be a little taxing. _

Reseda

Overall, classes at Beacon seemed to be… interesting, in multiple senses of the word. Grimm Studies was going to be an exercise in attention span, for one thing, and whoever decided to put the hyperactive Dr. Oobleck’s history class right after that deserved a medal in Evil. As a recent college graduate, and an engineering student on top of it, I was more than used to dealing with intelligent professors who were extremely poor lecturers, but this was taking it up to eleven!

I’m just thankful that Combat class didn’t actually involve anything today. Something about it being the first day and letting us get our bearings before getting down to it,

When Serra and I got back to our dorm at the end of it all, we found our remaining teammates already waiting for us. I suppose it was time for that important talk, then. Aaron didn’t waste any time, shutting the door to our room and barely waiting long enough for us to get our stuff situated before jumping right into it.

“So!” Aaron clapped his hands together, determination burning in his eyes, “What we’re gonna do is keep as many people alive as possible, while screwing over the ones behind this whole thing. Who wants to upend the plans of a god-complex bitch and her immortal millenia-old mistress?”

“Who’s the bitch in question?” Serra asked, still whittling away at the pencil-sword thing she’d started in Professor Port’s class, catching all the wood shavings with a sheet of paper. Now it had lots of details, and there was a small hole at the base of the hilt. Maxie was sighing as he laid in his bed, kinda emotionally drained. “Also, why the fuck is immortality a thing in Remnant?”

“I’ll explain what I know of the immortality bit later,” Aaron replied. “First things first, though, we should probably tell each other who we were back on Earth just in case we knew each other back then.”

Alright, so we’re having this discussion first.

"I was a lone warrior with seven scars on my chest, using the powers of a martial arts Jesus to bring love and peace to an apocalyptic wasteland!” Maxie proclaimed jokingly, getting laughs from everyone.

“Better than being a pastor who transforms into a Velociraptor to fight ninjas for justice,” Aaron chuckled back.

“Jokes aside,” Serra cut in, “who wants to go first?” We all descended into awkward silence. The only audible sound was the knife scraping against wood.

After ten seconds of this, Aaron sighed and muttered, “Team Leader, may as well.” Then he lifted his head and spoke louder, “I… things aren’t really that different for me here. Sure, better birth mom and no brain injuries, but overall pretty much the same. In the old world, I was a Classroom Assistant for special needs students, a Youtuber, and something of an online Dad.” Serra tilted her head at that, some curiosity leaking through her expression.

“My most common online names were Aaron Ganaron, or Sh--”

“--enanigannons,” I finished, absolutely dumbfounded. Seriously, what are the fucking odds? 

I could see that Serra’s hands had stilled, the knife laying motionless in her right hand with a half done rune carved into the blade of the pencil-sword. “No fucking way.” 

“Wait, did  _ both _ of you know me back then?” Aaron said incredulously, and Serra dropped both the knife and the pencil to bury her face into her palms.

“I’m not just your teammate now, Aaron,” I explained. “I was Your Teammate before. Ring any bells?” I got the satisfaction of seeing Aaron’s jaw drop as he put the pieces together.

“Team? Wait, you’re–” he looked closer at me, and any heavy thoughts were cut off by an attack of laughter. “Oh my Oum, you’re a fucking Hedgehog Faunus, aren’t you?!”

And  _ there _ it was again. “Yep,” I sighed, but I couldn’t help but crack a smile despite my annoyance.

"Do you roll at the speed of sound and like chili dogs?" Maxie asked innocently, and I lost my battle against the laughter.

Serra made a high-pitched keening sound and sunk deeper into her bed, her new knife falling onto the floor with a clatter. I winced, remembering her reaction to realizing who I was. It must’ve been even worse to realize that her adoptive dad was here too, as well as her brother if my growing suspicions proved correct.

“Serra, you okay?” Aaron moved over to her bed, worried, but paused when a mass of strings rose up from her back to completely surround her. I could hear a muffled, drawn-out scream coming from inside, but after a minute or so the cocoon retreated to reveal her lying still with her face in her hands.

“Sorry. Go on,” she said, voice still muffled by her hands.

"Do you need hugs?" 

“...Dunno, maybe later,” Serra muttered, dragging her hands down off of her face as she sat up. “Fuck, might as well get it over with. Most common online name was Caffinated-Dragon, shortened to Caff.”

"YEAH, SIS AND DAD ARE HERE!" I jumped when Maxie shouted happily, flinging his arms into the air in celebration. “AND TEAM!"

Aaron seemed to be shocked into silence, staring at Serra. When he finally got his voice back, all he could do was only let out a quiet  _ “Oh thank Oum…”  _ and then he was gently holding her by the shoulders. She was about to knee Aaron in the stomach, but then relaxed minutely as he continued speaking. “I thought I had left you at the mercies of your original parents. Same with Maxie.”

Serra let out another strangled scream, which petered out just as someone knocked on the door. “Hey, are–” Jaune asked as he opened the door, but he cut himself off with a terrified yelp when Serra snatched another knife from somewhere on her person and lobbed it straight through the door. “Nevermind!”

"We’re fine, buddy, just team bonding and emotional growth!” Maxie shouted to him as Serra slammed the door shut again. “I should make everyone dinner as an apology,” he mused. “Maybe a nice roast. Sis, what do you want?"

“I  _ want _ to throw myself into the sea,” Serra sighed. “Pull a Brian David Gilbert, only it's more permanent than a funny haha bit at the end of a video.”

"Sis, that sounds very blue of you,” Maxie joked as he stood up, and unpacked a box of… weapons?

“Well, I guess we don’t need to figure out who you were, Maxie,” I commented idly. Honestly, I feel like I should’ve been feeling something a little more drastic than the dull acceptance I currently had, but at the same time I was just extremely  _ relieved _ that it wasn’t just up to me and Caf in terms of trying to “fix” canon. And it was nice to see the online Found Family I’d witnessed develop be together in person.

Plus, no need to worry about hiding shit from my team. In fact, if Aaron’s opening words were any indication, he’d be the one with all the information.

Though I think it’d be a good idea to get back on track here. “I haven’t had much interesting happen on my end,” I began with a shrug. “Parents are members of Starlit Sonata, though, which is a little different. Ended up going to Signal, too, which was pretty fun.” Though when it came to professors like Taiyang Xiao Long and Qrow Branwen, I suppose “eccentric” would be a better description for my time there.

“How about you, Serra?”

“Well my parents were better this time around, even though they’re almost never in the fucking house,” she said distractedly. “Parents own the Azurite Company, which is pretty different. Not really that interesting besides the fact that I’m the heiress.”

“Wow,” I commented. “I noticed it yesterday, but it looks like we’ve got some more celebrities among us. Gonna make interacting with RWBY and JNPR more interesting.” Though… that did raise some questions regarding Maxie. I wasn’t unfamiliar with the reputation of the Roja clan; very few Faunus were. It was something… concerning, and the implications of it made me itch for a weapon.

But that was something for later, it seemed, with how Maxie was pulling a large metal briefcase out of his luggage. I decided to settle in to see what he was going to pull out. It’d be interesting, if nothing else. 

Serra

I’m so fucking screwed. Fuck, I’m gonna have to hide  _ so much shit _ its unreal. Fuck! Why did I say yes to Roman’s offer for a co-op heist? Whyyyyyyyyyyy, I should have known they were bad luck after what happened last time.

Too late to regret it now, I’m just gonna have to be more paranoid than usual and use the vents to stash my stuff. ‘Not very interesting’ my fucking  _ ass.  _ If they find out about anything to do with the connections my parents have or I have, I’m fucked.

"Sis, want a gun?" Maxie asked, startling me from my brooding.

“We get guns?” I looked up at Maxie, extremely confused. “Wha- you know what, fuck it. What type?” I needed something to distract myself, and unloading a few magazines worth of bullets into something would probably do the trick.

"Heavy assault pistol that chambers a full jacket round. Also got a laser sight, custom porting, 3 modes of fire and a 20 round magazine. They’ve got burst-fire, full auto and single shot.”

Ooooh, that sounds like a nice gun. “Yeah sure, I’ll take it. What ammo?”

"Depends. It can fire custom Dust rounds but it will explode beyond triple burst. So .45 rounds at most."

“If I shoot just .45 rounds or just Dust rounds, will that damage the gun?”

“Eh… probably not?” Maxie hedged with a grin. He had me at ‘explode,’ and the damn smug dude knew it. 

“Lemme seeeeee bro, I haven’t shot a gun in at least a month!” I held out my hand eagerly, a string from my other hand reaching out to open the room’s window wide open.

“I don’t think I like where this is going…” Aaron muttered, while Reseda just had an indulgent grin on his face.

Maxie rummaged through the case for a little bit before pulling three pistols out and laying them on his bed. I instantly hopped over and grabbed the blue-accented pistol with a maniacal smile. “Fuck yes.”

"And before you fire the gun,” Aaron warned, “How about we head down to the range so we don't get detention? We can invite the other teams and make a day of it.” Damn, and he was using a Dad Voice too. 

“I was just planning on loading the thing and shooting it out the window, but that works.” Social interaction… yaaaay. Well, at least this’ll let me see if I’ve gotten rusty. Dad had given me lessons on how to handle all sorts of guns before I’d settled on a weapon, and I was best at pistols. Time to see if I remembered what I’d learned.


	7. Chapter 6 Team Bonding

**Chapter 6: Team Bonding**

Maxie

I began to knock on Team RWBY’s door while checking my Scroll, ignoring the knife that was embedded hilt-deep into the wall nearby. Serra’ll probably want that back before Miss Goodwitch notices, but it’s probably fine. The display read 5:00 p.m, so there was plenty of time to hang out before curfew.

I began to rock back and forth on my heels while I waited at the door. I’d changed into a tight-fitting red and blue shirt with jeans and sandals for this, since I had the chance to escape the Evil Neckties. For some reason, Coco always made sure I bought tight shirts. No idea why. 

It wasn't long before the door opened, revealing Yang standing in the doorway. "Yeah? Oh, you're the muscley guy! Maxie, right?" She grinned, giving me a not-so-subtle once over. I couldn't help but tilt my head as I looked down at her, ears twitching in confusion.  _ Muscle man? _

Then I realized what she’d meant. "Oh right, I was half naked the first time you saw me,” I said out loud, clapping my hands as I remembered. “Sorry about that by the way. It probably wasn't very nice to see.” My scars weren’t very pretty to look at, after all. “I hope I didn't ruin your first day." 

"Dude are you kidding? You kinda helped make it," She said, giving me a wide smile. 

_ Wait she liked it? Does that mean… _ "Does that make us friends, Miss Xiao-Long?" I asked eagerly. Yang blinked, surprised, before chuckling and offering a hand to shake.

"Sure does! Call me Yang–" She was cut off when I scooped her up in a massive hug and started squeeing in happiness.

"I made a new friend~ I made a new friend~" I sang out, hugging Yang tightly as I twirled around.

"Uh, Maxie?" Blake had clearly heard my singing, because she was quick to walk over.

"Yes BB?" I asked, coming to a stop to look at her. Even the slightly concerned look on her face didn’t stop me from smiling, though.

"Yang still needs to breathe," She pointed out. Even with her concern I couldn’t help but notice the oddly nostalgic smile she was trying to hide.

"She needs to what?” I asked her dumbly, before realizing how tightly I’d been hugging her partner. “Oh my gosh!" I quickly set Yang back down, causing her to stumble in place slightly before steadying herself on the doorframe.

“Maxie…” Serra sighed as she walked over, shaking her head with a grin. Her grin widened when she slid a magazine into the Cerberus pistol I’d made for her, causing a satisfying click. “Man, I’ve missed guns. Dunno why I stopped carrying them around. I should pick up that habit again.” 

"Is there a reason your teammate’s carrying a handgun?" Blake asked, staring slightly at the pure satisfaction on my sis’ face.

"Oh, we’re just going to the training room to bond and we thought to invite Team RWBY and JNPR. You know, get to know each other, blow off first day jitters, and fire high powered rounds in a safe environment,” I explained with a smile. “And not out dorm room windows." I finished it off by giving Serra a quick head pat.

“It wouldn’t hit anyone,” she grumbled, ducking out of it. “And why the hell are you  _ still  _ taller than me? I’m older than you!”

"Wait, hang on,” Yang spoke up, having finally recovered from my hug. “You're younger than her? Name's Yang by the way." She held out a hand, and Serra eyed it before shaking her head.

“Yeah, sorry, I don’t do handshakes with people that have shotgun-gauntlets.” 

"How many times have you had to say that?" Yang and I wondered at the same time. We gave each other a look, before we grinned and bumped fists.  _ I feel so cool right now. _

“Only once, but it's weird that I’ve even had to say that sentence,” Serra deadpanned, walking over to her knife and yanking it out of the wall with one hand to examine it.

"And  _ this _ ,” I said to her, pulling Blake over, “Is the badass Teenage Ninja Girl who is also my childhood friend and found sister: Blake Belladonna.” I flashed a peace sign over her shoulder with a big smile. '”Her family are big supporters of Faunus rights." Blake gave me a subtle nod that I did my best to mirror. We’d worked that one out on the walk back to the dorms, to help explain things while keeping her status as an actual Faunus secret.  _ The best part is, none of that was a lie either. _

“Damn, Blake, you were hiding a hunk like this from us this whole time?” Yang asked, grinning appreciatively as she gave me another once-over. “ _ Nice _ ~.” It took me a second to remember what she was talking about, but when I did I’m pretty sure my face made a decent impression of a tomato.

"Serra and I met last night," Blake said, giving the cackling Yang a look before ignoring her entirely. “Where’s Reseda?”

“Still in the dorm room,” Serra replied, sliding the knife back into the pouch it came from. “I think, anyways.”

"And Aaron’s talking to Jaune and his team, and apologizing for having a knife thrown at him,” I explained. “Speaking of leaders, where is Ruby?" Yang and Blake stepped aside, revealing their leader with her nose buried in a stack of textbooks and notes while muttering absently to herself.

"She started to study the second she got back,” Yang explained, almost whispering despite how Ruby hadn’t even reacted to my antics from earlier. “It’s both encouraging and kinda scary seeing my baby sis like this." 

“What, she never pull an all-nighter trying to finish 3 essays and a lab report on the day they’re due before?” Serra snarked, spinning the gun on her finger. “Hey, Maxie, mind if I head to the range early? I took the liberty to nab some extra magazines, so I won’t be running out anytime soon before I can head back to Vale on the weekend to restock.”

"Do you know where it is?” I asked, before singing, “And you're gonna miss the  _ Vault~" _

“What fucking vault?” Serra paused, visibly torn between leaving now and waiting.

"Woah, hold on here.” Yang held up her hands, trying to process this. “Two questions. One, how old  _ are _ you? And second, what vault is this?" Yang began to toss pillows at Ruby to try and get her attention.

"Fufufufu,” I giggled. “You will see if you come with,” I smiled widely as I began to lightly skip away. “Also, I’m 14, and born in September. Or around there, anyways."

"Fourteen?” Yang repeated incredulously, before the first thing I said registered. “Blake, what did that smile mean?" I heard Yang ask her teammate, who’d probably narrowed her eyes based on her response.

"Knowing Maxie, it means that while this will probably be very fun, we might need to run away very fast." My smile widened as I heard the fond nostalgia in Blake’s voice.

“You know what, fuck it, I’m heading to the range to shoot shit,” Serra decided, power walking down the hallway. “I have an overwhelming urge to squeeze this trigger and I’d rather not have the bullet ricochet and hit you. Especially after I replace them all with Dust rounds.”

I followed after her with a smile, uncaring of her foul mood. After all, I got to show the Vault to some new friends! This was gonna be great!

Reseda 

I waited until everyone had left the room before flopping backwards onto my bed with a sigh. This was all just… The whole situation was a tiny bit overwhelming. Finding Caf was a surprise, yeah, but Aaron and Maxie too? It took a while to hit, but this was really frickin’ massive! Not to mention that with Aaron and possibly Maxie knowing much more about the show than I did, I could breathe a little easier in terms of making sure Beacon didn’t get destroyed like in canon. 

My sigh turned into a breathy, faint laughter as relief surged through me. I didn’t have to do it alone, reliant on half-remembered viewings of a show I only caught snippets of here and there. I didn’t have to skulk about, hiding things from the people I was supposed to trust for the next year-plus. I had friends here, friends and teammates to rely on.

I let myself lay like that for another minute or so before reasserting control and getting back to my feet. “Right, enough of that,” I muttered to myself as I grabbed the pistol Maxie had made for me, slinging my jacket over my shoulder on the way out. “Time to get back to it.” 

Maxie and Serra were already gone by the time I got into the hall, presumably with most if not all of Team RWBY with them. I couldn’t imagine Ruby passing up on the chance to use the firing range with us, after all, to geek out over our weapons if nothing else. Aaron, though, was still talking with Jaune in the door to their room, and as I got closer I was able to catch the tail end of their conversation.

“–Really sorry about the knife,” Aaron was saying apologetically. “Serra’s pretty jumpy.”

“It’s alright,” Jaune apologized meekly. “I probably should’ve knocked or something first. Besides, she didn’t actually hit me, and no harm, no foul.” 

“Besides, I don’t think ‘jumpy’ is the proper word to use in this case,” I spoke up, drawing everyone’s attention. “Hair-trigger is a better way to describe it.”

“Oh, hey Reseda,” Jaune said. “You guys, uh… settling in alright?” 

“Well enough,” I replied with a shrug. “We’re going down to the range for some team bonding. You guys want in? Maxie gave us some guns to try out.”

Jaune seemed interested, at least. “Really? Sounds like fun! Though,” he added self-deprecatingly, “I don’t really have a gun to show off.” 

“Team RWBY’ll be there, so we can all just hang out, too,” Aaron commented. “It’s just a good way for the future Top 3 teams of Beacon to get to know each other.”

That startled a laugh out of Jaune. “Wow, that’s pretty confident of you to say. Wish I could be half that.” He looked back into the room, and I could make out Pyrrha and Ren looking back at us. “What do you guys say, want to go hang out with the others?”

“I see no issues with it,” Ren commented.

“Same here,” Pyrrha answered with a smile. “We all have access to our weapons, so we should head to the range right now.”

“Don’t see why not,” Aaron decided, pushing off of the door frame and making his way down the hall. Then he paused as something seemed to occur to him. “Wait, hang on,” he realized, turning back around, “Where’s No–” He was cut off by Nora appearing almost out of nowhere directly behind him with an eager smile. 

“Boo!” she yelled, before dissolving into laughter at Aaron’s undignified yelp. I’m pretty sure he jumped at least half a foot in the air, too. 

“Gah! How long–”

“The entire time you were talking to us, actually,” Ren answered, smirking lazily. I couldn’t help but laugh a little myself, especially since I’d seen Nora sneaking down the hallway earlier and didn’t say anything at her prompting.

_ “Eep.” _ That was the last sound I expected to come out of Aaron’s mouth, but I guess Nora had that effect. For her part, she’d simply darted inside the room, coming back out in mere moments carrying a bag stuffed full of… were those grenades?

“I’m ready~” she sang cheerfully, coaxing grins out of everyone from her enthusiasm before she skipped back over to Ren while babbling about something or other. I lost track barely two sentences in, but he bore the attention masterfully.

My scroll buzzed, and I checked it to see that Serra had texted me, with a photo attached.  _ “Holy shit this place is massive,” _ the caption read. Said picture was of a large, open room with holographic targets scattered all around it, with what looked to be a control module off to the side. The lockers could be seen through an open door nearby.  _ “I’m gonna shoot all the physical targets. Holograms are for losers!” _ a follow-up text wrote.

The next picture was of the gun, loaded and prepped to shoot, with the caption  _ “Lets see how accurate I am while unloading the entire magazine as fast as I can.” _

“Well, Serra’s already having a good time at the range,” I remarked, drawing everyone’s attention from Nora’s antics. “Let’s go, or she’ll take all the good targets.”

We’d made it a good halfway out of the building before Aaron stopped. “Wait a minute, does Weiss know where we’re going?”

“Huh? Why wouldn’t she?” Jaune asked, confused. “Wasn’t she in the room when Serra and Maxie stopped by?”

“I saw her out earlier,” Pyrrha helpfully supplied. “She seemed to have a lot on her mind.” Oh yeah, the leader thing from this morning. That would do it, yeah.

“Reseda, would you mind waiting for her?” Aaron asked. “I’d rather not leave her behind for this, and I saw from yesterday that she’s already taken a liking to you.”

I think “taking a liking” was a little generous where Weiss was concerned, but sure. “Yeah, I got it,” I answered, already doing an about-face and walking back up the stairs. If I remembered correctly, she was still at least a little grumpy about this morning. While that’d be a little annoying to deal with, I could probably handle it.

Or not handle it, as it turns out, because Weiss had apparently only missed us by a few minutes. Team RWBY’s door was open, and when I looked inside I found Weiss staring at one of the desks. Which was kind of understandable, since it was completely covered in notes, but it still didn’t seem out of place for any student. 

“This is all… Ruby’s?” I could hear her wonder before I knocked on the doorframe, making her jump slightly. She whirled around quickly, giving me a brief glare for surprising her. “What is it, Antem?” she asked shortly.

“Just wanted to let you know that we’re all at the school’s range, if you wanted to hang out,” I said, leaning against the doorframe with my arms folded. “Us, JNPR, and your team. You coming?”

Weiss gave the messy desk another long look before sighing and nodding back. “Yes, I suppose I am.” I went back outside as she grabbed a few things, but it was only like a minute before she came outside for us to go together. 

We walked in silence for a bit before I finally decided to ask about what’d confused me earlier. “So, uh… what was up with the desk?”

“Let’s just say I have an apology to make to my team leader,” Weiss admitted with an uncomfortable expression on her face, and I remembered that yeah, this was canonically those first episodes involving her doubting Ruby’s assignment as leader.

Well, considering how down Weiss seemed to be down on herself, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try and help her feel better about it. “Some growing pains are expected,” I began carefully, “But for what it’s worth I think Team RWBY’s gonna be a force to be reckoned with this year.”

“Of course,” I added afterwards with a hint of challenge in my voice, “Don’t expect Team AMRS to be far behind. You guys better keep your game up, or else we’re gonna be running you over on the way to the top.”

Weiss seemed taken back by my banter as we left the dorm. Was the Atlas high life really so dull that talking shit was unheard of? What a bunch of wet blankets.

"I suppose what you said is true,” she admitted eventually. “My team is strong, I will not deny that, but your teammates are definitely ones to watch out for. And… speaking of them, maybe you can answer me something."

"I can try,” I replied, stuffing my hands in my pockets as we walked. “What's up?"

"Why does your teammate, Maximus Roja, refer to me as Snow Bunny?” she asked, confused. “Does he not realize I am a Schnee?" Out of all the things I expected, this was not one of them. To be honest, I hadn’t even noticed Maxie’s nickname for Weiss, or maybe I’d just forgotten, what with all that’d happened since then. 

"I think you’re gonna have to elaborate there, Weiss." I had a pretty good idea of what she meant, but I think it’d be healthy for her to say it out loud. 

"I mean how my family and the White Fang are at war,” Weiss explained in a subdued tone of voice. She seemed to be aware of how bad the situation between them was, so that’s at least a start. “And considering his… family’s… reputation, he should be hating me, or at least not be as informal as he is. It puzzles me why it doesn't seem to bother him."

I didn’t say anything back for a while. Maxie didn’t say it, nor did he really show it during the time we’d had together so far, but… That itch for a weapon was coming back again. Weiss’ reminder of the reputation owned and touted by the Roja clan as a whole brought with it some chilling realizations. Those scars of Maxie’s hadn’t come from nowhere, after all. Him having apparently lived at Beacon for the past few years told a tale of its own, as well.

“I’ve known him for all of two days,” I began carefully, “And I can already tell that Maxie’s not the kind of person to care about a family’s name or reputation in that way. The fact he’s here in the first place is proof enough of that. Plus,” I added, “You’re not the one deciding company policy, are you?”

Weiss silently shook her head in negative, and I gave her a small grin. “Then that’s the long and short of it as far as he’s concerned.”  _ Definitely not something that won him brownie points with any of those other terrorists, _ I mused internally, causing my grin to become slightly more wooden.

I quickly shook myself clear from those thoughts, shelving them for a more appropriate time. “If you asked him to, he’d probably stop calling you by that nickname,” I said out loud. “Or if you wanted, one of us could do it.”

“No, it’s not that I don’t like it!” Weiss protested. “It’s just… surprising, is all.”

“Better than Snow Angel, right?” I chuckled, remembering Jaune’s poorly-conceived nickname.

My response was an exasperated groan and a muttered “Immensely so” from Weiss.

“I can talk to him too,” I offered, only for her to shake her head. 

“I can deal with that annoyance myself, thank you.” Weiss was suddenly smirking in a way that left me nervous. “Just be prepared for your first meeting with my team. They are all big fans of Starlit Sonata, and Ruby at least was very upset with her sister for not saying she was classmates with you at Signal.”

I winced. Yang already knew who I was, of course. We were in the same graduating class, after all. But we didn’t ever do much socially, Signal’s final exam notwithstanding, and I’m pretty sure she never told Ruby about it. Blake was a bit of a surprise, since my parents hadn’t even entertained the idea of going to Menagerie until I started at Signal, but it made sense that she knew at least a little about the band considering its origin. 

Dealing with the energy from Nora and Ruby, though, wouldn’t be fun, and I absolutely anticipated having to sign something for Jaune (and his sisters) if nothing else.

Either way, it meant a return to dealing with fans. Joy. “I can’t wait,” I said stiffly, doing my best to ignore Weiss’ good-natured chuckling as we continued on.

Aaron

Walking to the range took a good few minutes, so by the time we got there Serra, Maxie, and most of Team RWBY were already making good use of the facilities. The place must’ve had some pretty strong soundproofing, because when I opened the door to the main area I was suddenly able to hear a conversation that was already in progress.

Or, well, I say conversation, but it was mostly just Ruby gushing. “Dual-barreled machine guns with select fire modes, adjustable scope with 180 degree rotation, hydraulic-controlled titanium alloy casing, and even complete functionality when split in two!?” The red-cloaked reaper let out some sort of high-pitched squeal from where I saw her… wiggling happily beneath Maxie’s weapon? “It’s PERFECT!"

“How are you  _ that _ excited when you’re pinned under it, Rubes?" I heard Yang ask before she was cut off by a rapid series of bangs coming from the actual shooting range. 

“I’m definitely rusty, but that’s not bad,” Serra remarked, pistol barrel smoking as she rapidly replaced its magazine. There were clay shards all around the room, clear evidence of where the bullets had gone.

"Need me to tweak the sight?" Maxie asked as he freed Ruby from his cross and slung it onto his back. Jeez, how much does that thing weigh?

“Nah, I’m good,” Serra sighed, sending out a couple of strings to hold another set of clay discs up in the air. “Maybe it's the sound that’s throwing off my aim? I’m used to having a silencer.”

"Hold on, I’ve got a few of those in my Vault,” Maxie said, taking the gun and walking over to a locker that was much larger than any other one I’d seen on campus. “I can just grab them for you right now."

"Uh, Maxie,” I asked, “Why do you call your locker the Vau–holy shit." Everyone watched as the locker folded outwards, revealing a large fold out gun cabinet. A couple of weapon prototypes hung on one door, and a display of modifications and Dust containers were sitting on shelves on the other wall. Right in the middle was a fully stocked work bench with space behind it that must’ve been for Punisher.

"Okay Serra, I’ve got silencer attachments, or if you want we can retool the barrel to build one in, and…” Maxie trailed off when he turned around to find all of us gaping at him. “Why are you all staring?" he asked. 

Ruby had her hands clasped over her mouth, through which I could just barely hear some high-pitched, unintelligible weapon-nut-noises, while Yang was eyeing a large pair of lion head-shaped gauntlets. Blake was analyzing a shuriken hanging from a strap, which was almost certainly infused with some kind of Dust based on how it was glowing slightly.

Jaune was staring around in shocked surprise, and if my ability to read faces was right… yeah, he was mentally comparing them to his sword.  _ Great, just great _ . Looks like there’s a lot of work ahead of me if I want to build him up. Nora was looking around in awed fascination, and while Ren let a little bit of surprise slip-  _ and boy, isn’t that a big tell _ \- he was more focused on keeping his partner out of trouble.

"Why do you have so many weapons?" Pyrrha asked as she reached over to examine what was obviously a replica of a chainsword.

"Be careful with that!” Maxie called out as she turned it over in her hands. “The blade shoots out on a chain." That… that was a fucking 40k Holy Chainsword with a Blood Angels mark on it… and it  _ what. And why wasn’t it Iron Snakes? _

“And these are all prototypes of some weapons I was thinking of using, before settling on my primary weapon.“ Maxie explained as he laid Serra’s pistol down on the workbench in his locker. In seconds, he had the weapon disassembled, and was swapping parts around with an ease born of experience.

"Anyone want me to tweak their guns while I am here?" Maxie asked as he grabbed several components from the shelf on his right.

"Is that a  _ rocket launcher with a bayonet _ ?" Nora asked excitedly, racing over and almost yanking the weapon from the shelf.

"The Kalina Ann, yes. Give it a whirl but brace yourself. It’s got quite the recoil to it," Maxie answered as he finished reassembling the pistol and checking the sights. “Serra, try it again?” I was barely paying attention, though, too caught up on the fact that Maxie had actually made prototypes of iconic game and anime weapons for use as a Hunter.

Serra took the gun and checked it over before cocking it and shooting it at one of the targets. The sound was noticeably lower than before, more close to that of an object falling off a table than a gunshot. “Oh, this is waaay better,” she grinned viciously.

"Also Jaune, hand me your sword, please. Thing’s kinda dull." Huh, the show made it look nice and shiny, but, and I’m upset I didn’t notice until now, it was a lot easier to see the dull edge in person.

“Huh?” Jaune asked dumbly, laughing nervously as everyone’s attention turned on him.

“Kind of? That sword’s so dull I’d be surprised if it could do a clean cut through a stack of paper,” Serra snorted. “You’re gonna need some top-grade grindstones, buddy. Not to mention all the other extra shit you’ll need to keep a sword combat ready.”

"Serra, be nice,” I admonished lightly. “Jaune switched weapons recently. It's a family heirloom."

“You’d think he had the time to at least sharpen it a little bit but okay,” Serra muttered. “Does he even know how to do  _ that _ correctly?” 

Yeah, Jaune was pretty bad off, likely the weakest of all the current students at the school, but that would be easy enough to fix.  _ Need to make sure he does his push-ups, sit-ups, and that he drinks plenty of juice. Of course, before  _ **_any_ ** _ of that, he’ll want to accept help first. Hopefully before Cardin can hear him tell Pyrrha the truth... _

Jaune was saved from answering by the door to the range opening. Reseda and Weiss walked in, deep in conversation about something or other. 

“Is that really what Port was trying to tell us in his story today?” Reseda was asking, only to pause when he saw the people looking at him. “Oh… Uh… hi guys,” he said nervously. Ruby and Nora were gazing at him with starry eyes, and Blake was also giving him a thinly veiled look of interest. Yang was grinning at him smugly, anticipating the show that was about to happen.

“Uh oh, I recognize that look,” Serra said, inching even further away from her partner as strings snaked up to the rafters, ready to pull her out of the crossfire. “Welp, good luck buddy.” 

He turned to the side, but Weiss was already gone, leaving him alone against the unstoppable tide of energy better known as Ruby and Nora. I grimaced and took a step away from the pink-red mess and spent several seconds deliberating over whether to rescue Reseda or not. While I wasn’t too familiar with his parents' band–I’d been busy making something from the old world–I’d heard their music on occasion. They’d been around for a while too, so…  _ Yeah, he can handle it, _ I decided. _ Not dealing with fangirls. Rest in peace, Reseda. _

Eventually, Ruby and Nora were persuaded to leave the beleaguered Reseda alone, mostly through intervention from Blake and Ren, who calmed Nora down while Weiss pulled Ruby aside. He ended up sitting to one side along with Blake, talking about both Starlit Sonata and the Two Souls books that they’d discussed the day before.

The conversation between Weiss and Ruby was too quiet to be heard by any of the others, but afterwards the two Huntresses-in-training split off, with Ruby deciding to hang out with Blake and Reseda, thankfully having calmed down from her initial burst of enthusiasm. Weiss moved over to Maxie, who was busy sharpening Crocea Mors on the bench in his Vault, explaining the proper method to Jaune as he went. Weiss ended up watching the process, adding in her own advice and experiences in terms of weapon maintenance.

Serra dropped down from the rafters after everything had calmed down, and ended up getting into a shooting contest with Yang, using her Cerberus while Yang tried out the gauntlets she’d been eyeing earlier. The lion mouths on each end opened up to reveal small gun barrels, which the blonde bombshell was interested in, but the main attraction was the use of Fire and Lightning Dust to fire explosive projectiles. In the end, Yang had decided that the gauntlets were too large and unwieldy to use, not to mention expensive in terms of Dust, and ended up borrowing Reseda’s own pistol in order to continue the competition with Serra.

Off to the side, Nora was wreaking havoc with the Kalina Ann, decimating waves of holograms with its rockets and occasionally firing out the bayonet, which was reeled back in on a chain. Ren was keeping half an eye on her to make sure she stayed out of trouble, while also perusing the selection of gun modifications Maxie had on display.

Pyrrha and Aaron were doing some talking while he held out his staff, discussing potential modifications to it while keeping an eye on Jaune and Maxie, respectively.

"What were you planning on doing with all of this, anyway, Maxie?" Jaune asked as he studied the massive open locker. “Doesn’t the school have its own resources for this kind of stuff?” Maxie carefully studied the edge of Crocea Mors, giving it one last polish before deciding it was done.

"I'm gonna get a truck later and try to install the Vault in its back. Almost got the money for it, too,” he answered, handing the sword over to Jaune and turning to Weiss. “You need some grinding, Snow Bunny?" he asked her, instantly causing everyone who heard it to pause.

"Yeah Weiss, you need Maxie to grind for you?" Yang asked mischievously, doubling over in laughter when the heiress’ face turned crimson. Maxie tilted his head in confusion as several of the other spectators had to stifle laughs or blushes of their own.

"What's funny? I would grind for any of y'all," he said innocently. Aaron went over to whisper in Maxie’s ear, and the poor wolf Faunus’ eyes widened before his face took on a shade of red to match his hair. He covered his face with his hands and slumped over, moaning piteously. 

After regaining control of her own giggling, Blake decided to take pity on her friend and changed the topic of conversation. “Have you come up with a name for the truck yet?” she asked.

Maxie seized the opportunity eagerly. “No, I haven’t yet. Why, do you want to?" 

“I do,” Aaron spoke up, “And there’s only one name that fits.” A wide, happy grin formed on his face.  _ “Speed Buggy.” _

Reseda facepalmed and Maxie groaned, but everyone else merely gave him confused looks. “Was that a reference to something?” Serra asked.

"Ruby, I’ll trade you my cross and Aaron for Blake and I will toss in a weapon from this Vault,” Maxie said in response. “Jaune, same deal but for Ren."

Ruby gasped eagerly and Jaune choked on nothing upon hearing this, while Aaron cackled gleefully at his chosen son’s reaction. But before either of them could answer, everyone heard Nora, who’d been ignoring the entire sequence of events going on in favor of playing with Kalina Ann, say something that caused Maxie to pale and make a break for the door. 

"Ooh, shiny button!" 

The prototype rocket launcher let out a roar, spewing out a barrage of micro-missiles, and the entire room devolved into pandemonium.

Serra

"Good night, new friends!" Maxie shouted as we all finally got to our dorm rooms covered in various degrees of soot and ash. Professor Goodwitch hadn’t been pleased by the destruction visited on the training range after our first day of classes. We’d been severely lectured for a good 30 mins, Nora ended up with a 3 page essay and a week’s detention.

“Well, that was a pretty big shitfest,” I muttered, checking my scroll and suppressing a frown when I saw that Roman had texted me again. “Can’t believe we didn’t get more than singed from that whole thing, though.” I chalked that up to a combination of Aura and the fact that the weapon was just a prototype, before discarding that line of thought and focusing on Roman’s message.

_ Fake Arsonist: _ What do you know of the White Fang?

_ Actual Arsonist: _ Roman what the fuck did you do  _ monkaS _

_ Fake Arsonist: _ What is that.

_ Actual Arsonist: _ it's called a emote you boomer now who did you piss off because I definitely didn’t piss off any White Fang members 

The existence of Twitch emotes was entirely my making, since the vanilla ones had been bland and boring as shit. Not really a perfect replica, and there were definitely fewer than I would have liked, but it was better than being stuck with the yellow emoji faces that made me want to set my scroll on fire. 

_ Fake Arsonist: _ No, I did not piss off the White Fang. At least, to my knowledge. I merely found a new… partner… who has a deal with them. 

_ Actual Arsonist: _ ya know, that’s not really any better than pissing them off…

_ Fake Arsonist: _ You're avoiding the question, shorty

_ Actual Arsonist: _ oh piss off

_ Actual Arsonist: _ White Fang? ye I know a fair bit

_ Fake Arsonist: _ What about? Anything particularly useful about… Rojas?

_ Actual Arsonist: _ i thought I’d never see the day that your mental facilities plummeted to my level but here we are

_ Actual Arsonist: _ give me 5 minutes

_ Fake Arsonist:  _ Any longer and I have Neo spam you those videos you hate 

_ Best Ice Cream:  _ :)

_ Actual Arsonist: _ oh fuck you, dude, I’m muting this stupid thing until I have what you want 

I slid my scroll into my pocket, had a brief moment to despair over what exactly I’d gotten myself into, and started rummaging through my stuff for one of my flash drives.

Meanwhile, the guys were lined up by the bathroom to change into sleep wear. Maxie was humming a little tune as he waited on his bed, and Reseda was busy reading a small book he had borrowed from Blake back at the range.

“Where the fuck did I put it?” I muttered underneath my breath after a minute or so of searching. “Did I–fuck, of course I didn’t look in the case yet.” I grabbed the relatively heavy instrument case from my luggage and clicked it open, paying no attention to the disassembled trumpet as I grabbed the flash drive I was looking for from the small storage pocket. “Why the hell did I put this thing here?

“What’s that?” Aaron said, looking over at the flash drive curiously.

“Something I keep on misplacing for absolutely no reason,” I grumbled, flicking it open and grabbing my laptop in order to transfer the files. “Seriously, I should just leave it in the case permanently if it’s never where it's supposed to be.”

“No, I mean what’s in the case.”

“A trumpet, dumbass. What, you want me to assemble it and give you a concussion with it to send you on the expressway to dreamland?”

After a couple of seconds spent waiting for the laptop to turn on, I put in the arbitrarily complicated password before plugging in the flash drive. The tab popped up, and I got to work locating the folder containing the information I had on the White Fang. All prominent members and families were in their own subfolders, so I copied and then compressed over that one to the shared storage between my scroll and laptop before taking the flash drive out and shutting off my laptop.

_ Actual Arsonist: _ roja_family.zip

_ Actual Arsonist: _ there have fun

_ Actual Arsonist: _ information about the matriarch, patriarch, and other members of the Roja clan

_ Actual Arsonist: _ i can’t believe you’ve stooped to my level of bullshit

_ Fake Arsonist: _ I do not recall setting fire to an entire warehouse before leading more than 30 policemen on a wild goose chase in the span of a single night.

Actual Arsonist: you get what i’m trying to say, idiot. who’s your newest business partner?

_ Fake Arsonist: _ . . .

_ Best Ice Cream: _ . . . 

_ Actual Arsonist: _ is it really that bad? 

_ Fake Arsonist: _ Yes. Do feel lucky that you do not have to interact with them whatsoever during the duration of my partnership with them.

Oh, so it really was that bad, huh. Well, lucky me, I guess. 

_ Actual Arsonist: _ you gonna tell me who it is or no?

Roman took a long time to answer that one, long enough that I had enough time to stuff the flash drive away again while taking off the pouches on my person.

_ Fake Arsonist: _ I believe it’s in the best interest of both of us for the two of you to never interact. Or for you to go snooping about their identity.

_ Actual Arsonist: _ ...that’s new. but sure why not, I’d probably try and off them despite my moral code if what you’re saying is right

“Who’re you talking to?” Reseda asked, looking up from his book curiously at the sound of my grumbling as I sent that message.

“Just an old buddy, that’s all,” I said, and that wasn’t even a lie. At this point, I considered Roman to be a friend, sorta like how I’d befriended people on the internet back on Earth. “He wanted to know something, so I sent over some files I had.” Saying half-truths and lying by omission would be something I’d be doing a lot, huh. Great.

“Really? What’d he want to know?”

“How to stoop to my level of bullshit, that’s what,” I snarked, pressing the home button and tossing my scroll on the bed. “But I get the feeling I won’t be surpassed on that front anytime soon.”

“I don’t know if I should be concerned or not,” Aaron muttered.

“Just ignore it, it's what I do a lot of the time,” I said dismissively. But seriously, what kind of partner had Roman picked up? He didn’t do those types of things lightly, after all, and there were few people in the underground that could tick me off so badly I’d want to throw my morals out the window in favor of trying to off them.

Lupin had been one of them, a complete asshole in addition to having killed Weaver, one of the actually decent members of Vale’s criminal underbelly and another friend. At least that asshole was now in prison, having barely escaped death because the police chose that night to actually arrive in a timely manner. If Roman had picked up someone like Lupin… well. This wasn’t gonna be fun.

Actually, Roman hasn’t told me anything substantial yet. Lemme just...

_ Actual Arsonist: _ will this new partner of yours be in the co-op raid?

_ Fake Arsonist:  _ Let's hope not. 

_ Actual Arsonist: _ that doesn’t make me confident at all but ok

_ Fake Arsonist:  _ My newest partner does things her way most of the time. She is a spitfire.

_ Best Ice Cream:  _ XP

_ Actual Arsonist: _ could you at least give me a name?

_ Fake Arsonist: _ Hah. No.

_ Actual Arsonist: _ alright then

_ Fake Arsonist:  _ Just be on the lookout for hot women. How current is this data on the Rojas and what is the source?

_ Actual Arsonist: _ both of us know that what you just said could mean anything under the sun

_ Actual Arsonist: _ and I avoid the red-light district like the plague

_ Actual Arsonist: _ so

_ Fake Arsonist:  _ Sugar induced ADHD candidate. Answer the question please.

_ Actual Arsonist: _ hey that’s offensive to people with actual adhd i’m just chaotic as fuck

_ Actual Arsonist _ : all sources and times for information are listed in brackets and in a different color, and are as accurate as I can make it with how much I steal information more often than not

_ Actual Arsonist: _ lupin had a lot on the rojas. needless to say, I nabbed all of it along with anything else of his that was useful, which included all his electronics

_ Actual Arsonist: _ said electronics met an end by sword and fire after I extracted everything inside them

_ Fake Arsonist:  _ …..fuck my perfect face. All right there is the icing on that sundae. Heading off. Word of advice, avoid Faunus hangouts for the next few months. See you at the heist.

_ Best Cream:  _ OvO

_ Actual Arsonist: _ months??? bitch the fuck did you do?????

_ Fake Arsonist has left the chat. _

_ Best Ice Cream:  _ 👋

_ Best Ice Cream has left the chat _

I closed the app, growling in frustration as I massaged my temples. Goddammit Roman, what the fuck did you get yourself into?

Aaron suddenly clapped his hands, startling me out of my thoughts. “Right, everyone, gather round,” he said. “It’s time to talk about what I said before we got sidetracked.” 

Reseda sat up in his bed, intrigued. “Are we going to talk about the canon stuff?” he asked as Maxie rolled over on his desk chair.

“Right,” Aaron replied, starting to pace as he gathered his thoughts. “So, the important goals here are to try and keep Beacon from falling, keeping Pyrrha alive and getting her and Jaune hooked up, stopping the White Fang, and killing off a psycho bitch with magic fire powers.”


	8. Settle in and Get to Work

**Chapter 7: Settle in and Get to Work**

Aaron

I watched as Serra absorbed the infodump that is the canon of RWBY, a blank expression on her face. While my knowledge was only the first 4 volumes and parts here and there, it was a lot to take in, and I knew what was going to happen as soon as she opened her mouth.

“What the fuck.”

“Munchkin, that was tamer than I expected. Something bothering you?”

One of her hands tightened into a fist, coincidentally the one that was holding her scroll. “What the  _ fuck.” _

Oh, she was still adjusting. _ Better give her a few minutes. _ I turned to Reseda. “How about you?”

“It’s… a  _ lot _ more than I expected,” he replied from where he was sprawled out on his bed. “Even with Maxie having been here for… five years, you said?”

“Closer to six, and the best part of my life so far," Maxie corrected as he finished up brushing his teeth.

“There’s still so much going on that I barely even know where to start.”

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. “That’s what I went through the first few years after I woke up. I knew most of what was in store, but I thought I was just one person by myself. What could I do alone that would have any actual impact?” I grinned. “Now, though? There’s 4 of us, and I can  _ plan. _ I have ideas forming, the first of which is stopping that asshole Cardin from bullying Jaune and every Faunus at the school, but especially Velvet.”

“ _What_ _the fuck.” Ooh, she’s pissed._

There was an audible snap as Maxie bit his toothbrush in half. "That's right, he does do that," he whispered, scarily quiet.

“Maxie, trust me to handle that. The next step is getting Jaune started training earlier and harder. Even being the weakest of the two main teams in canon, he was the smarter of the leaders, and really good in a fight…. As long as he has his Sword and Board,” I grinned at a memory of early Season 4.

I could tell Maxie wasn’t happy that he wouldn’t get to be the one to deal with Cardin, so I grinned at him, “Don’t worry, Kiddo, when I’m done, he’ll wish Nora had broken his legs.”

"I promise nothing the second I see him do something hurtful," Maxie said, grumbling as he grabbed another toothbrush.

“OK, so, I have a plan for everyone, and I need you guys to stick to it as much as you can, but there is quite a bit of leeway. So, here’s what we’re going to do…”

Maxie

"You suck, Cardin!" I shouted into my mindscape as I brutalized a dummy resembling Cardin, ignoring the Beast huffing with laughter nearby. Arms broke, jaws were crushed, eyes were stabbed, and the neck was snapped. I  _ may _ have some issues, but it’s all mental so sue me. Eventually, there was nothing left of the dummy but bits of fabric and stuffing, and my rage had finally simmered down to a dull anger.

"Damn, not a lot of time left," I muttered quietly. The lucid dreaming trick was really useful for de-stressing and strategy training, but according to Ozzie, the brain still needed to rest, so I could only have an hour or so in this state. Beating up on the Cardin dummy took out a lot of that. 

I quickly conjured one of my constant mental partners to at least get something else done tonight.  _ Velvet is really amazing for helping me memorize his style, _ I mused as I watched his center of gravity lower itself, hand placed in his weapon. The Beast growled and snapped from the shadows as I mimicked the figure. And in another instant, it was over.

I jerked awake with a small gasp. "Lost again, huh," I murmured as I checked the time. 

**3:50 a.m**

Looking around, I saw my other teammates lying still in their beds while Serra was dozing in a hammock in the corner. Rising to my feet, I quietly threw on a tracksuit and slipped out the door.  _ Time for my morning training. _

Apparently I wasn't the only one, as I saw Pyrrha sneaking out of her team's room dressed in similar workout clothes. She must’ve heard my approach because she turned around, but she was slightly surprised to see me there.

"Great minds think alike?” I whisper-asked as I padded down the hall, trying to keep my footsteps as silent as possible. “Want to join for a morning workout?"

"I would be delighted,” she whispered back. “Will Fox and Coco be there as well?" she asked as we moved outside. The sun hadn’t risen, and Beacon campus was quiet as we walked over to the gym.

"Oh, goodness no,” I answered. “Coco loves sleeping in, usually while hugging Velvet in a death grip, and Fox prefers actual combat or sparring. I think they showed up mainly to check on me," I said, scratching my cheek as I started up a jog to warm up a little.

Pyrrha sped up with me, easily keeping pace as we jogged to the gym. "So when did you start your training?" she asked eventually, clearly trying to keep the conversation going.

"When I was four years old, and my dad started trying to toughen me up and teach me to take a hit,” I replied automatically, then started when my brain caught up with my mouth. I looked back to see Pyrrha had completely stopped moving with a horrified look on her face. “Uh, I mean, a young age! I started at a young age,” I stammered, trying desperately to salvage the situation. “Crap, I'm sorry!"

"I'm sorry," Pyrrha blurted at the same time, cutting me off. “I… I won’t pry.” We were left standing there in an awkward silence before slowly starting to walk back to the gym.  _ Crap, what do I do? _ I panicked internally, not wanting to accidentally lose a friend days after meeting her.

Well, when in doubt, go for lame joke, I guess? “So… I heard you have a magnetic personality?" I asked awkwardly as we neared the gym. 

"I sometimes wonder about that,” Pyrrha responded, still slightly subdued after my earlier blunder. “I feel I need to be more forward about things, but it’s hard when people expect things of… Oh, you were just trying to make a joke, weren't you?" 

_ Thank god I am not the only one bad at this _ , I sighed, feeling no small amount of relief

“Oh perfect, you’re both equally bad,” Dad’s voice rang out as he rounded a nearby corner. I could tell by looking that he hadn’t slept much, so he must’ve been awake and had likely given up trying to sleep once I left. Guess some things don’t change, even in new worlds. “Mind if I join you two for a bit?”

"Sure!” I said as we got into the gym and I jogged over to my locker. “The more people, the less awkward it is." Ignoring the slight scorch marks on the wall, I grabbed Punisher and made my way to the main gym area. Pyrrha was already on the mat in the center, doing some sort of leg stretch while Dad was… 

_ Is… is he juggling a pair of weights while doing squats? _ I gaped slightly at the spectacle. _ And now he’s jogging around while doing it…  _ That was actually pretty impressive. But if his attention wavered, it was going to hurt.

I eventually shrugged, moving to the center of a nearby mat and, gripping Punisher by its short end, began to perform some swings, sliding forward a little with each one. Every swing was controlled and slow as I stopped Punisher’s end a few inches from the ground, calling my count as I did.

"That's an odd way to swing a heavy weapon," Pyrrha noted as she started doing sit-ups nearby.

"I am practicing for my primary weapon,” I explained between reps. “20, 21, 22. If you give me a bit, you can give it a swing if you want?" I asked. 

“Wait, that thing isn’t your primary weapon?” Aaron asked incredulously, skidding to a stop nearby and briefly activating his Semblance. He tossed the pair of weights high into the air, twirling his staff and catching a weight on each end with a flourish. He then hoisted the middle part of the staff over his shoulders, using it and the weights as a makeshift barbell as he began a set of squats, Semblance fading in the process.

"Nope,” I said, moving on to sideways swings and thrusts, all the while never letting my weapon waver or drop.  _ That's a good full body burn.  _ “60, 61, 62. So Pyrrha, what's Jaune been like so far as Team Leader?" I asked her, trying to get a feel for the current status of the best ship while trying to keep count of my swings.

She glanced to the side first, and I pretended not to notice the very light blush on her face. “Well… he’s pretty good at the actual leading part, and, well… I don’t think I can say much more as of now, sorry.”

“Is it that he seems to be absolute garbage at combat?” Aaron asked, wiping off some sweat with a towel.

“That’s not it at all!” Pyrrha’s outburst surprised us both, but we were less surprised by the immediate apology. “I’m sorry, but it’s not that he’s bad at combat. He’s just…”

“Not very good?” I finished for her as I finished up my swings.  _ Always do more than the day before,  _ I thought, satisfied with my progress on that front.

“Not confident,” she corrected. “We haven’t been in a true combat scenario since the Emerald Forest, but…” She hesitated, before admitting something that must’ve been bothering her a lot. “He doesn’t carry himself like he’s been combat trained, and I can’t help but feel concerned.”

“Well, why don't you invite him to join you for morning workouts?" I offered, resting Punisher against the wall and leaning over to do some stretches of my own. Pyrrha considered this for a moment.

“I could also help him out if he doesn’t like the idea, though there will be…” Aaron paused, and even though I knew his plan, that grin was  _ unsettling _ . “Stipulations, which I will discuss with him if he takes me up on my offer.”

"What’s stipulation mean?" I asked as I slung Punisher across my shoulders and started to do my own squats.  _ Wonder if Pyrrha would want to spar with me, _ I mused idly as Dad and Pyrrha continued to talk. _ Shame I can't without someone from Team CVFY or a staff member here. _

Aaron shrugged dismissively. “Just some conditions for me helping him out. Nothing bad, I promise.”

“I’ll pass the message along,” Pyrrha said eventually, though from what I remembered and what Dad said, it’d probably be a while until Jaune was ready to accept help. Unless, of course, we did something about it.

I hummed to myself as I continued on through my morning workout, doing my best to come up with ways to get Jaune to ask for help. It was gonna be a fun exercise, that’s for sure!

Serra

I sighed, glancing at the door and then back at my bed. Of all nights to wake up out of nowhere… it had to be the second night in the dorms. Whyyyy. Better than a nightmare, but I really wish I’d gotten more sleep than that.

Try and force myself back to sleep or train until I get exhausted enough to pass out?

Eh… might as well get in the extra training.

I got some clothing and slipped into the bathroom, coming out a few minutes later in a light blue t-shirt and baggy black pants. After deciding on Aura-based training instead of physical training because I felt lazy, I left behind my weapon pouches and went to the gym with only 1 knife tucked away.

Maxie, Aaron, and Pyrrha were already there, and I waved at them in greeting before heading to an unoccupied corner of the room, where there was plenty of space for me to practice.

I dragged out a mat and sat down, stabbing my knife into the ground in front of me before activating my Semblance.

Barely visible strings of Aura started reaching out from my hand, and I attached them to the walls, carefully expanding my reach string by string. After I took a few seconds to think on what I wanted to do, I started making offshoot strings, attaching them to the walls so that it actually worked.

A minute or so later, I was left with an elaborate spider’s web spanning the corner and glowing faint blue. “Why the fuck do I make fancy shit while sleep deprived,” I muttered, staring at it. “Why can’t I have this type of inspiration while on a normal sleep schedule. Fucking why.”

"So Serra, should we be calling you Spider-Girl or Lady Spider?” Maxie asked, pausing his upside-down sit-ups as he took in the display. “Either way, though, that’s super pretty."

“It’s very impressive,” Pyrrha agreed from nearby, and when I looked over to her she was giving me one of those kind and supportive smiles I’m honestly surprised weren’t faked. “It would make for an amazing art piece.”

Seeing the Invincible Girl of Team JNPR smile like that unintentionally re-ignited some of the panic I’d felt last night. Because  _ fuck _ , death by disintegration? By a major antagonist? How the fuck were we supposed to prevent that? From their description of Beacon’s Fall—and by the way, Beacon fucking  _ died, _ how nice—it was utter pandemonium, and who fucking knows how to keep track of people in that kind of chaos. Pyrrha seemed nice. I’d hate to see her bite the dust like that. 

Hah. Hahahahahaha fuck I’m gonna get attached, aren’t I. It’s inevitable. 

I yanked the knife from the ground and looked at the web for a little bit before chucking it through one of the gaps. It sailed through, barely touching the strings before embedding itself halfway into the wall.

"Ten points," Maxie commented as he flipped off the bar he was using. Pyrrha just looked back and forth between me and the knife.

"I'm sorry to ask, but are you okay?"

“I have no fucking clue.” Pyrrha slowly walked over and sat by me while the guys stopped what they were doing and watched.

"...What are you doing?" I asked, eventually. Seriously, what the fuck?

"You don’t seem like the type to enjoy contact, but I still want to support you," she explained, that same damn smile on her face. 

That’s fucking rich. Why can't you be an asshole, that would be so much easier to deal with!

Aaron was beaming. “I knew my daughter was awesome!”

Pyrrha blinked, looking back and forth between him and I several times, and I facepalmed mentally. Dammit, Aaron.

“I had heard that Maxie considers you a father figure based on previous encounters, Aaron,” she said, “But I didn’t know that was the case for Serra as well.” Pyrrha must’ve realized how odd that sounded, and quickly waved her hands in front of her. “Not that it’s a bad thing, honest! I’m just curious, is all.”

"He has a dad's face and can grow a dad beard in two days," I deadpanned, with no clue if what I just said was a lie or not. “He also acts like one, so there’s that.”

There was a brief silence as Pyrrha was clearly trying to find a different topic to bring up, awkwardly standing up and going back to her workout mat as she did so. Eventually, though… 

"Speaking of fathers. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't Azurite the name of a shipping and Dust company?" she asked, falling onto her hands and starting to do push-ups.

“Yeah. I’m the heiress, whoop-de-doo,” I replied tiredly. It was something I’d heard so many times before that I’d grown sick of it. “Doesn’t matter in the long run.” 

"Serra is a princess?!" Maxie shouted, beaming at me with—and I shit you not—actual fucking stars in his eyes. Anime logic, everybody.

“No, that’s now how that shit works,” I sighed, to no avail.

"My teammate’s a princess, the other’s a tournament fighter, and the last is a star child, that's amazing! I’m gonna go brag to Coco!" Maxie shouted, leaping excitedly and running out of the gym with his cross on his back.

I stared at the doorway for a little bit before burying my face into my hands. “It’s too early for this shit.”

And that was when my Scroll buzzed, showing I’d been added to a brand new group chat titled ‘Team AMRS.’

_ Reseda _ : Where’d you all go?

_ Serra: _ the gym, maxie went to train and i guess aaron and i couldn’t sleep for shit

_ Aaron:  _ Not in the least. Coming back in a few to at least get a little sleep though.

Serra: fair. guess im the one that cant sleep for shit

_ Serra: _ maxie has ungodly amounts of energy for it being like 5 am

_ Maxie:  _ UMU

_ Reseda _ : o

_ Reseda _ : Well have fun imma get more sleep. Remember, class at 9

_ Serra: _ oh right… school

_ Serra: _ fuck

Reseda

Waking up to an empty room was an experience I didn’t expect, but I guess something I’d have to get used to from now on. At least it was quiet, and I didn’t have any problems getting back to sleep for a few more hours before my alarm went off and I found Aaron passed out in his bed.  _ At least he got a little sleep. _

Thankfully, everyone actually got back to the room in time to get ready for classes, even when Maxie took his bath, and we got through the day’s lectures with no difficulties.

As an aside, Beacon’s first day of classes was stupidly light compared to normal. It turned out that there was supposed to be a second afternoon class normally, but it was just cancelled yesterday for the sake of providing extra time to gel with your teams. This gave us a total of three lectures a day, plus combat class, which would always be the last class of the day.

And this combat class would actually have us see combat, which would be nice. It’d only be one-on-one matchups to start, but at least it’s something.

“Miss Belladonna, Mister Antem, you will be our first pair.”

Me and Blake, huh? This would be interesting. I was already thinking hard as I walked off to the locker room to grab my stuff, almost ignoring the encouraging comments from my team. I’d make it up to them later.

As I grabbed my weapon, I mentally ran through everything I remembered about Blake’s capabilities. Unfortunately, that knowledge was severely limited, even after our little hang-out session yesterday, and Aaron hadn’t really talked about our classmates’ loadouts. I knew her weapon wasn’t just the massive cleaver thing she was holding, and that it could split into two swords like Orquestra could. I knew that one of the swords was also a pistol. I knew she was hellishly fast and agile. And that’s pretty much it. I didn’t know her Semblance, her level of familiarity with Dust, or any other tricks she could have up her sleeves.

But that went both ways. I was pretty sure Blake didn’t know about the different firing modes of Alto and Baixo. And I was pretty sure she didn’t know my Semblance, either, since my most blatant usages during initiation were out of Team RWBY’s line of sight at the time. And while Yang knew most of my tricks, she was a fellow Signal alum after all, I was pretty sure she hadn’t said anything to her teammates. 

So overall, I’m pretty sure the playing field was more or less even. Either way, though, I was hoping to put up at least a decent showing against one of the show’s main characters and undoubtedly one of the First Years’ best combatants.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long to get ready, and I strolled out of the locker room with my weapon sheathed at my side. No jacket this time around, since this was just a spar, but I did get some odd looks for my choice of dress. I suppose most people didn’t do combat in what were basically just reinforced fancy clothes, but most people were also completely missing out because I felt  _ awesome _ .

“Students, are you ready?” Professor Goodwitch asked, and I realized I’d kind of zoned out on the way over. Whoops. I quickly pulled out Orquestra, earning some surprised murmurs from the crowd when I split it into Alto and Baixo. Blake raised an eyebrow at me, but followed suit, unsheathing her katana and holding the cleaver-sheath in her off hand.

“Ready, Professor,” I said, and Blake gave her a short nod to show she was also ready to go.

"GO BB! BEAT THE RINGS OUT OF HIM!!!” I heard Maxie cheer from the stands, and I couldn’t help but groan internally at the reference. I should’ve never let them know, I swear… “GO RESEDA! NINJAS ARE ALL FLASH!" Across from me, I saw Blake shake her head at my teammate’s voice with a barely-perceptible grin on her face.

Professor Goodwitch’s expression, though, didn’t change at all. “Very well. Begin!”

Neither Blake nor I committed to anything the second the match started. I much preferred a reactionary style of fighting to make the most of my Semblance, and it looked like Blake was similarly inclined. Instead, we started to slowly circle around each other, eyes searching for the slightest opening.

“I’m surprised you’re not rushing in,” I commented after a few seconds of this. “I thought Yang’s partner of all people would be a little more proactive than this.”

Blake simply smirked back, and I was just barely able to make out a twitch of her bow. “With how much she likes to run in headfirst,  _ someone _ has to be the reserved one to cancel it out,” she bantered back. We both grinned at the offended reaction that elicited from Yang in the stands.

“Fair enough,” I shrugged, before deciding to hell with it, might as well start things off. “In that case, I guess we’d better get going before our more energetic classmates fall asleep or something.” Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Nora actually had her eyes partly closed until Ren poked her in the ribs.

I shifted Alto into its pistol form, and Blake tensed at the sign that I was going to start things off. “Come on then,” I proclaimed, twirling Alto once before aiming down the sights at her. “Let’s make a show of it!”

The opening shot from Alto was deflected easily, but I didn’t expect it to actually hit her. The high-powered bullet was aimed straight at her face, so when she deflected it she was forced to cover her eyes. The power from the shot also caught her by surprise, staggering her slightly from the impact and giving me the perfect opening to charge in.

This whole time, I’d been edging myself ever so slightly closer to her with each step, making sure to keep it as subtle as possible for when I finally made a move. This meant that when I dashed forwards to close into melee, Blake was left off-guard as I covered the remaining distance between us far faster than she’d anticipated. I made sure to activate my Semblance on her as I did, slowing her to about three-fourths of her normal speed.

Off-guard and slowed or not, though, she was still able to barely deflect my first swing, though it threw her off-balance. I followed it up with a few more slashes, keeping the pressure up as best I could and forcing Blake to backpedal. When I started weaving in close-range shots from Alto as well as some Capoeira moves, that was when I started getting some hits in, using the momentum from our clashes to turn into a high-speed dervish of limbs and blades.

Eventually, I managed to completely break through her guard, knocking her swords aside with several looping kicks and sending her staggering back. “Gotcha!” I yelled, driving Baixo down at her open side, only to cut through a black mist as the Blake in front of me dissolved into shadow, revealing the real one a few feet away.

“Clones?” I muttered, surprised at the use of her Semblance, before quickly leaping back as Blake’s katana, now morphed into some sort of sickle, carved through the air where I’d been standing. Blake pulled it back to her with what looked like a black ribbon of some sort before switching it to pistol form and running in to close the distance.

I quickly switched Baixo to pistol form and started backpedalling myself, sending out controlled bursts of bullets to gain a bit of breathing room and hopefully doing some chip damage on the way. It was a low-caliber machine pistol, so I didn’t expect anything major, but it did slow her down as she was forced to start dodging. Alto also fired into the mess, with the goal of hopefully hiding some meaningful damage in the mass of gunfire.

Blake navigated the assault masterfully, dodging between bullets and using her clones to take hits when necessary. I couldn’t help but be impressed at her Semblance usage, as well as the sheer speed at which it activated. Even at 75% of her normal speed, I could barely make out the swap before the clone was pulverised by one of Alto’s bullets. Then Blake started firing back, and I had to devote more time and effort into dodging, allowing her to close the distance even faster.

Then Baixo clicked empty, and Blake found her way forward to be a lot less hectic. I only had enough time to empty the rest of Alto’s clip at her, which she dodged or deflected effortlessly, before having to switch both back to machete form as she attacked.

The next few minutes were a blur of slashes, parries, actions, and reactions, and I barely had any time to think as Blake seemed to be everywhere at once. My vision became a haze of black and flashes of metal as she started throwing her clones into the mix to mess with my timings, and several of her strikes started landing as I tried to respond as best I could.

Finally, a lucky swing from Alto landed on Blake’s real body, and when she instinctively flinched back I took the chance to kick her away. We both took the chance to leap back, catch our breath, and recover, and a quick glance to the screen above us confirmed that both Blake and I had Aura levels in the yellow, though Blake’s was above mine by a noticeable margin. Shit, my Semblance was draining me faster than I thought.

I took the opportunity to reload my weapons in gun form before spinning them back into machete mode, and I saw Blake do the same with her own gun-chain-sickle-thing. I cancelled my Semblance’s hold over her as I did so, and from Blake’s perspective I must’ve started to move significantly slower, something I could use to my advantage.

I let out a long breath, faking a little more exhaustion than I actually felt before pulling my blades up into a ready position once more. It wasn’t hard. We’d been fighting nonstop for at least a few minutes, and my body was starting to make its protests known. I ignored the cheering from the stands in favor of focusing on the issue at hand.

At this rate, I had no chance at winning. I couldn’t keep up with Blake when we were both moving normally, and if I slowed her down enough to match her pace I’d run out of Aura long before winning. So I had to try something drastic.

I charged towards Blake, using Baixo to provide some covering fire. My shots went wide as she ducked to the side, and her own return fire forced me to swap Baixo back to machete form and use both weapons to bat away her bullets as I ran. One particular salvo forced me to obstruct my line of sight to her in order to defend myself, and when my vision cleared I saw a ballistic chain sickle hurtling towards my face.

Good. I can work with this.

Tempo flared to life once more, and Blake’s sickle slowed down to a crawl in midair. I winced at the drop in Aura, but I only kept my Semblance active for the seconds I needed. And it was all worth it to see the surprise on Blake’s face when I dropped Alto to snag her weapon out of the air.

I gave the sickle a yank towards me, pulling hard on the ribbon that Blake was using to control it. Caught by surprise, she had no time to brace before she was sent stumbling towards me as I spun, using the momentum to hurl Baixo straight at her face with a shout of effort. I poured as much of my Semblance into my weapon as I dared, speeding it up until it was little more than a buzzsaw hurtling at near-sonic speeds towards my opponent.

Blake was caught out, still trying to recover from being pulled forwards so unexpectedly. She didn’t have time to react, and I grinned triumphantly as Baixo sliced towards her… only to stop in midair inches from her chest.

“That’s enough,” Professor Goodwitch stated, and both Blake and I stared as she stepped into the ring. “As you can see, Mr. Antem’s Aura has fallen into the red, which would make Miss Belladonna the winner of this match.”

Wait, what? I looked up to the board and… yeah, there it was. My Aura was just barely in the red, while Blake’s had barely moved from where I’d last seen it. I must’ve miscalculated how much I could give my Semblance with those last two maneuvers. Dammit.

“Miss Belladonna, you did well to adapt to your opponent’s unorthodox tactics, though you relaxed your guard at a crucial moment and nearly paid the price for it. I would recommend developing a greater awareness of the options your opponents have available to them, as well as being more observant and more cautious in order to prevent being caught unaware in the first place.” Blake nodded silently, still half-focused on the machete suspended in front of her. When her gaze turned to me, I could tell that she knew what I did: That hit would’ve put her in the red for sure, if not broken her Aura outright.

“And Mr. Antem,” I snapped my attention back to Goodwitch as she turned to me. “Your use of trickery and unorthodox tactics served you well in catching your opponent off guard, but I would recommend improving your close-combat abilities so that these tactics can serve as trump cards, rather than equalizers.” Ouch. It was completely valid advice, but still, ouch. “And in the future, do be more judicious with your Semblance usage. Overestimating your own capabilities is just as dangerous, if not more so, than underestimating your opponent’s.”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” I replied as I grabbed my other weapon off the ground. “Thanks, Professor.” She merely nodded, returning Baixo with a wave of her riding crop, and Blake and I were left to go put our stuff away.

As we walked off the stage, I heard Goodwitch’s voice calling out the next pair of students. “Would Mr. Thrush and Mr. Citrine please come down to the arena? You will be our next pair of fighters.”

Aaron

I could almost hear Serra’s low whisper of “I guess I’m fucked, then,” when Goodwitch pronounced her assessment of Reseda’s performance. Which made sense, because she used her Semblance a lot, both casually and in battle.

"Don't worry Serra, I’ll teach you the ancient art of punching things really hard,” Maxie whispered back, much louder. “I wanna go next, please please please!"

“Maxie, chill. It’s not like we get a choice on who we fight. Goodwitch is choosing for us,”I replied, smiling regardless. Maxie’s energy was contagious, and I couldn’t help but get excited for my own fight. 

Right now, though, it was Russel Thrush from Team CRDL against another guy named Steel Citrine from a team called Team MTLC, who definitely hadn’t been mentioned in canon. He was swinging around a large pole-arm axe thing, leaving silver trails in the air as Russel flipped and cartwheeled around him, using two large daggers to chip away at Steel’s Aura.

"Steel swings his weapon too far and leaves his side exposed.” Maxie’s analysis caught me by surprise, and I looked over to see him watching the fight intently, even as he squirmed impatiently in his seat. “That being said, Russel doesn't have the stamina or power needed for a prolonged battle. Dangit, I wanna fight already!! It’s obvious Russel’s gonna run out of steam being showy!" His antics led to several nearby students turning to look at him. A few of them were nodding in agreement with his assessment, while some like Cardin were giving him an annoyed glare.

Serra clearly recognized who he was from my description of him, and shot Cardin a death glare that blazed with contempt.

Thinking back, I tried to remember what I could of Team CRDL, and… there wasn’t much, just that Cardin was a big bully, and  _ I wanted to bury him for it, in an unmarked grave, ten feet under.  _ Wait, no, save that brutality for the Grimm. I had an  _ idea _ for dealing with Cardin. I didn’t like it, and I knew my team wouldn’t either, but…  __

I was broken from my thoughts by a buzz as Thrush was knocked into the red by Steel, who had finally gotten a solid hit in to send him flying. As the combatants walked off the stage, Professor Goodwitch pulled up the next set of fighters, and I groaned.

“Mr. Winchester and Mr. Roja, please come to the stage.”

_ Fuck. _

"OH YEAH!!!" Maxie was out of his seat almost instantly running down to the lockers to grab his weapon. I quickly grabbed him by the arm, calling on my Semblance to make sure I could actually hold him back a moment.

“Maxie,” I whispered to him quickly, “Restraint. He hasn’t  _ done _ anything yet.”

He deflated a little, but nodded. “‘Kay, Dad.” I let him go with a smile and his energy returned. “Still, though, fight time! Whoo!” My smile turned into a fond grin as my son ran off, nearly bowling over Reseda as he ran to the locker room.

He took it well, at least. “That was a very excited Maxie just now,” he commented wryly as he sat back down next to me. “I saw Cardin on his way to the locker room too. Is that really what’s going down?”

“You bet it is!” I jumped in my seat as Yang whooped from behind us. She must’ve snuck down at some point, because the rest of her team was still farther up in the stands. “Great fight by the way, Fancy,” she said, leaning over and holding a hand out for a high five. “You and Blake definitely put on a show there!”

Serra snorted upon realizing what Yang had decided Reseda’s nickname was, and I couldn’t help but chuckle a little myself. I mean, yeah, he definitely looked fancy, with—oh Oum, it really  _ was _ a reinforced tuxedo vest! Combine it with the dress pants, shoes, and dark green tie, and I had to resist making a crack about Lucky Charms spilling out if he got shot.  _ I am  _ not _ Alucard, _ I grumbled internally.

“What’s wrong with looking your best when you kick some ass?” Reseda complained good-naturedly, high-fiving Yang with a smile despite his words. “But yeah, thanks Yang. Let Blake know she’s a nightmare in the arena.”

“I’ll be sure to pass it on,” Yang laughed. “And you’re preaching to the choir about looking’ good, Fancy, but even I think the full tux is a bit much.”

“Reseda, I hope you don’t mind that I’m not green with envy,” I responded, barely holding back a chortle, “I only  _ mint _ that you’re a little overdressed for such a, uh…  _ lime _ group.”

“Fance?? Fancy shit?? Not in my gremlin house of hoodies, no,” Serra proclaimed, though I was more focused on the way Yang was cracking up behind her. “Also, that was a shitty collection of puns.”

Reseda responded to all of this by crossing his arms, spinning on one heel and sticking his nose up into the air. “I am unappreciated in my time,” he proclaimed dramatically, causing us all to laugh again.

Yang’s laughter eventually wore down, but she was still giving me a massive grin. “Ah, Aaron, I think this is the start of a  _ beautiful _ friendship.” I gulped. Shit, I wasn’t actually  _ good _ with puns! I was absurdly lucky that that set of them flowed right in the first place! 

"I AM READY!!" Maxe shouted, getting everyone’s attention as he rushed into the area with his cross on his back, skidding to a stop right in front of Goodwitch.

“And that’s my cue,” Yang commented as we watched Cardin saunter out after him. “Seeya in a bit, guys.” 

I barely acknowledged her leaving back to her team, focused as I was on the match about to unfold. I watched Maxie heft his cross and Cardin sneered, likely thinking it would be an easy victory.  _ How… how can I even entertain the thought that you can be redeemed? I should hate you and want to beat the stuffing out of you, but… I can’t. I guess I really am a big ol’ softy after all... _


	9. Exhibition

**Chapter 8: Exhibition**

Maxie

"I’M READY!" I shouted as I skidded to a stop in front of Miss Goodie, eager for a friendly fight. Although… with Cardin, how friendly it’ll be is a different matter. Dad was right though, he hasn't done anything bad… yet…  _ I should at least be nice to him until he tries something.  _ _ Hmmm… how should I handle this?  _

Miss Goodie clearing her throat nearby snapped me back to reality, and I saw her giving me a  _ look _ . "Now that I have your attention, do you remember your restrictions?" she asked quietly as I shuffled a bit under her gaze.

"No using my actual fighting style, no using my Semblance, and after four minutes of melee immediately stop fighting," I listed, ticking them off on my fingers with a nervous smile.

"And?" She asked, raising an eyebrow as Cardin walked onstage.

"And tell Ozzie you’re underpaid, and deserve two weeks of paid vacation on an island of your choice."

She didn’t actually smile or anything, but the softening of her gaze told me she was laughing on the inside. It didn’t last long, though, and when Cardin finally made his way over to his spot she’d put her stern teacher persona back on.

“Mr. Winchester, Mr. Roja, are you both ready?” Professor Goodwitch asked sternly.

"One minute please,” I said, stepping forwards and giving Cardin a smile, idly noting that I was a little taller than him. “Let’s have a good match! No hard feelings, yeah?" I asked as I held out a hand.

The boy who in another life would become a relentless, unsympathetic bully gazed at my hand for a long few seconds, before finally grasping it and squeezing with a nasty grin.

“No hard feelings big guy, especially when I win!” 

I just smiled calmly and squeezed back. The fact that the color kinda drained from his face in the process was a complete coincidence, promise. So was the fact that when we let go, he was trying to subtly shake out his hand. 

I moved back to my own starting point, hefting Punisher by its long end and leaning my entire body back in preparation for the coming clash. Cardin finally got into position too, tapping his mace against his off-hand. We stared each other down, the audience around us quieting down as they sensed the tension building.

“Begin!” Professor Goodwitch called, and the fight exploded into motion. I lunged forwards and swung my cross down at Cardin's head like a hammer, aiming for a quick knockout. Unfortunately, he was fast enough to dive to the side, rolling back to his feet as Punisher slammed into the ground with a loud crash. 

Cardin tried to follow up with a high one-handed swing aimed at my own head. I let go of my weapon and lashed out, catching Cardin’s arm mid-swing and deflecting it to the side. His left arm flew up to protect his face, but that left his lower body open for the punch to his midsection from my other hand.

I heard the air  _ whoosh _ from his lungs and grinned. Even with Aura, that must’ve hurt. The impact sent Carding stumbling back with a gasp, letting me freely pick up my weapon and swing it back around so that it rested on my shoulders.

"Come on, Cardin, get pumped!" I shouted, stepping forwards and thrusting at his chest with Punisher. He tried to counter it with a swing from his mace, but the sheer weight and force behind the strike still sent him flying back. He landed hard on his back, impacting so hard that there was another noticeable drop in his Aura.

"Ummm… bud, maybe you shouldn't try to outpower me?” I offered, starting to feel a little bad for how one-sided this felt. He wasn't very skilled and his experience seemed… limited, at best. “Plus, our weapons are different sizes, so you probably shouldn't even be trying to block. Maybe dodge, or parry? How often do you train outside of class?"

Cardin rolled back to his feet with a growl. “Stop mocking me, you damn mutt!” he yelled, winding up for an even larger swing. I read the path of it easily, and couldn’t help but be a little disappointed as I quickly took a small step back. The mace swung wide and Cardin stumbled at the lack of resistance, leaving him wide open for me to step close for a headbutt to the face.

"You shouldn't use big swings like that unless you're sure it will hit, or if it’s a feint,” I lectured as he reeled back, eyes watering. Honestly, I was probably handling this wrong, but the only other option was my parents’ method, and that was a massive nope. “Maybe you should have a second weapon? A small buckler, maybe?"

"SHUT UP!" he roared, raising his weapon high above his head for a crushing strike. I simply raised my cross to block, bracing slightly in preparation.  _ I wish I was better at people, _ I sighed internally. I really  _ was _ trying to help, and it just seemed to make him madder! 

"Gotcha!" Cardin shouted triumphantly, right before our weapons made contact. “Eat this!” The mace’s impact wasn’t anything spectacular, but I was caught off-guard when it exploded with a loud BANG.

I reacted instinctively. Punisher whipped around in a full-body swing, catching Cardin under the ribs before he could react. The would-be bully was sent flying clean across the arena, and was only saved from a one-way meeting with the wall by a familiar purple aura.

“As you can see, students, Mr. Winchester’s Aura has fallen into the red,” Professor Goodwitch declared. “As such, Mr. Roja is the winner of this match."

I looked over to see that yeah, Cardin was deeply in the red, while I’d barely lost any Aura in comparison. I winced, realizing I’d probably taken off about a fourth of the full thing with that last attack. It… didn’t help that his type of attack reminded me of some… unpleasant memories… 

“Mr. Winchester,” Professor Goodwitch was saying, “You should have displayed more caution when handling an opponent who appeared to outpower you. And you allowed your emotions to get the best of you, leaving plenty of openings for Mr. Roja to exploit.”

Cardin was silent as he was released to land on his feet, staring at our Aura meters. The expression on his face almost made me feel bad for how one-sided the match was, even when I remembered what he’d do in canon, and that just stacked onto what I was already feeling.

“And Mr. Roja,” I turned back to Miss Goodie to see her giving me an intense look. “Do keep the combat assessments to  _ after _ the fight has concluded, if you please.” 

“Uh, right,” I replied absently. “Sorry Miss-er, Professor Goodwitch.” I walked stiffly back over to Cardin and held out a hand with a shaky smile. "I'm sorry about that last hit,” I said, hoping to salvage the situation. “That last attack was really cool by the way."

Cardin stared at my offered hand for a moment before snorting and batting it away. “Whatever.” 

I watched him slouch off towards the locker rooms, and even with the feeling that this could have gone a lot worse, I couldn’t help the sickening feeling rooted in my gut. I ran off myself, hoping to get back into the stands as fast as possible. I needed some hugs from my friends.

Reseda

That… was far more one-sided than I anticipated. I mean, I knew it was a terrible match-up for Cardin, but I didn’t think it’d be  _ that _ bad!

Though… Maxie had me worried again. From what I remembered, and based on what Aaron said yesterday, Cardin was very much the stereotypical bully, and probably a racist on top of it. Not someone I wanted around Maxie at the best of times, but even then, the standard dickishness wouldn’t have caused that extreme of a reaction from my friend.

“Miss Rose and Miss Masters,” Professor Goodwitch announced, “You will be our next pair.” Even with the worried thoughts swirling in my head, I couldn’t help but smile at the cheering from Ruby as she hopped down from the stands, her weapon unfolding from… seemingly nowhere? Where’d she even  _ have _ it? Her opponent, one Shimmer Masters, was far more composed in her leap to the arena, but she also pulled her weapons out of thin air, and I was left staring. Were those handaxes? Where the hell was she keeping _ those _ ?

“Ooh, nice choice in weaponry,” Serra muttered, staring at Shimmer curiously. “Close-quarters and long range, maybe? But retrieving the axes would take time and leave her open if she doesn’t have a Semblance that helps with that…”

“I don’t remember seeing her,” Aaron quietly commented from next to us. “So she’s probably one of the side characters we didn’t see in canon. I bet she’s got some sort of tricks up her sleeves that we don’t know about.”

Any input I wanted to make was cut off when Maxie came trudging back to the stands, and oh, man… No jokes intended, but he had such a hangdog look about him you’d have thought that he was the one subjected to a one-sided loss, instead of the other way around!

“Hey guys,” he mumbled out, but that was all he could say before Aaron grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into a hug. Maxie tried to get something else out, but Aaron just hugged him tighter, muttering a message of his own into his ear. I tactfully decided to tune out what was being said between the team’s father and son out of respect for their privacy, but that didn’t stop me from putting a hand on Maxie’s shoulder in a silent show of support. Serra’s hand was on his other shoulder, one eye on the fight and one eye on Maxie.

And speaking of the fight, holy shit. I had to do a double take when I actually focused on what was going on, because Shimmer was honest-to-god  _ flying _ around the arena with some sort of rocket exhaust coming out of her hatchets’ handles. It wasn’t very precise, and probably wouldn’t last long at all, but she was taking full advantage by zooming around Ruby, occasionally swooping down for a drive-by swipe. For her part, Ruby was a crimson blur of motion, zipping around in a flurry of rose petals and only occasionally stopping to try and line up a shot or a swing from Crescent Rose.

“Nice dodge, but lots of wasted movements,” Serra muttered underneath her breath from beside me, gaze fixed on Ruby as she weaved around Shimmer’s attempted passes. “Overshoots sometimes, stance too wide, attack style looks tailored to bigger entities that are probably Grimm. She’s not used to fighting humanoid opponents.” My partner paused for a moment as that statement sank in before hanging her head. “Oh god, she’s not used to fighting humanoid opponents…”

"I’m going to go sit with Blake for a bit,” Maxie spoke up. “And sis, sometimes being too used to fighting people is a bad thing." He ended up patting Serra on the head, something which I’m pretty sure would have resulted in a lost hand if it were anyone but him or Aaron, before walking over. 

“Well, considering you-know-what, her being used to fighting people would probably save us some trouble,” Serra snarked after him, though there wasn’t really any bite in her words. She did have a point there, considering the whole “terrorist organization” thing, I guess. But then again, that was what we’d be learning in combat class, and even a single semester of just sparring against each other would net a lot of experience. Especially with that whole Vytal Festival thing coming up… 

I shoved the thoughts to the back of my mind in favor of keeping track of Maxie as he made his way over to Team RWBY’s area in the stands. He slid in next to Blake, who made space for him without looking, focused as she was on Ruby’s fight. Maxie leaned over to rest on her shoulder, and one of her hands was instantly busy gently kneading the back of his head. 

Well, if I wanted any proof that the two of them were close before Beacon, this was it. Especially since Blake’s comforting of Maxie seemed almost instinctual. Wait, correction,  _ definitely _ instinctual. The way that Blake reacted to the questions and teasing from Weiss and Yang respectively proved it. At least Maxie looked a lot less sad overall, which was good, even if it was replaced by innocent confusion. The guy deserved all the positive support that everyone could give him, and not just from those of us in the team.

A surprised shout from the arena brought my attention back down to the fight, where Shimmer had just been folded over the inner blade of Ruby’s scythe. The red-cloaked reaper went into a sideways spin, using the recoil from her gun to drag Shimmer with her before  _ slamming _ her hard into the ground and knocking her Aura into the red. 

“Ooh, nice move,” Serra commented, fiddling with what looked to be a small Wind Dust crystal. “Wonder how she’d do fighting in more enclosed spaces, though, this place has no roof or obstacles.”

“And how much experience do  _ you _ have with fighting in said enclosed spaces?” Aaron questioned. I also looked over curiously, since the source of Serra’s combat skill and experience wasn’t something she’d really gone into detail about. Especially since her combat school had apparently not actually involved much in the way of live combat.

“Eh, decent amount. Dad’s usually busy, but most of the trainers I’ve had put an emphasis on parkour and shit,” Serra shrugged. “So they’d spar with me in a gym that had loads of obstacles and whatnot. Once, I took a dumbass bet and had to do that but with 3 extra trainers hunting me down. Shit sucked. I lost, but I got to troll them, so it was more a pyrrhic victory for them.”

“I’m almost scared to ask what you did,” I remarked as Professor Goodwitch finished up giving Ruby and Shimmer their post-match summaries.

“Well… it wasn’t  _ that _ bad, really.” That did _ not _ inspire anything resembling confidence. And from the grin she was sporting, she knew it too. “They were new, so they didn’t know about the unspoken rules. So I sowed some chaos of the trap variety.” I winced at that one. The Caf I remembered could be absolutely terrifying when given the opportunity, and I can’t imagine her life as the Azurite heiress did anything but enhance that. 

But any further thoughts were cut off by Professor Goodwitch’s next call: “Mr. Arc and Mr. Jaspar, you will be our next pair.”

Oh boy. Well, rest in peace Jaune Arc. Now, I didn’t think he was  _ as _ bad as some people pictured him, but I couldn’t deny that he was essentially going in as a novice against students who’d had, if not years of instruction at established academies, then an equal amount of live combat experience. Aaron hadn’t said anything about academies, but he did say he’d made his way from Atlas to here essentially on his own, and that meant a lot of fighting against Grimm and/or bandits on the way over.

In short, this was going to be fast and it probably wasn’t going to be pretty.

“Don’t beat him too badly,” Serra snorted as Aaron got up to leave. “We still need him intact, after all.”

Our team leader spared a moment to flash us a confident grin. “Don’t worry too hard there, Serra,” he replied. “I’ve got a plan to handle this.”

Aaron

_ Oum help me, I have  _ no _ idea how to handle this _ , I groaned internally.  _ How the heck am I supposed to help build Jaune’s confidence and skills up without squishing him like a gnat here? _

“Well, you better put the finishing touches on said plan fast, because I don’t see a way this can end well,” Serra muttered, a haunted look on her face. “That sword, good god… I’m surprised it hasn’t snapped yet with the way it’s been handled.”

I couldn’t think of a response other than a shrug before going down to the lockers to grab my staff. What to do? Should I sandbag a bit, try to build his confidence up and see how he handles a fair-ish fight? That’d come at the cost of my own performance, though. Should I just go at it like I normally would, and straight-up dominate in order to impress on him how much improvement he needs? That ran the risk of completely destroying what little confidence he had. Damn it, this wasn’t even important in the grand scheme of things, so why did I care so much?

Eventually, though, I ended up deciding to start slow and help him adapt, then slowly but surely speed up and hit harder, seeing if he keeps up or if he gets left behind. I had a bad feeling he wouldn’t last very long, no matter how much I tried. I didn’t like losing, not even on purpose. Mind made up, I made my way back out to the arena, where Jaune and Professor Goodwitch were already waiting.

“The match between Aaron Jaspar and Jaune Arc will now begin.” Well, Goodwitch certainly didn’t waste any time starting up. “Students, are you ready?”

I pulled my staff out of its holster, spinning it in front of me before snapping into an aggressive stance. “Ready, Professor.”

“Uh, yeah, ready!” Jaune stammered, hefting Crocea Mors in one hand as he took a rudimentary fighting pose. 

“Begin!”

I dashed forwards and lashed out with a half-speed punch, which Jaune blocked with by far  _ the worst shield block I’d ever seen _ . I mean, holy crap, Bloodborne’s Hunter uses his shield better, and that stance breaks almost instantly! Long story short, Jaune got knocked straight off his feet, flipped over twice, and just barely recovered on his feet, only to fall over backwards when his momentum caught up with him again. I sighed as he picked himself back up, mentally going over everything I’d need to do to get him up to snuff. 

_ Let’s see, I’ll need Pyrrha’s help with the shield, but he’s got the wrong type of sword for her to teach well. Maybe that second-year Parado kid I heard about? Need to make sure to help get his physical abilities up too, or else it won’t matter how good his skills are...  _

"Feet shoulder apart and have the leg opposite to your shield arm slightly back!" Maxie shouted from the stands, Blake wincing next to him at the noise. I smirked as Jaune followed the advice, or well, tried to, and got it right after a moment.  _ Right, he has the instincts, just needs the training to match… _

I started attacking with my staff, going for mostly telegraphed swings. To his credit, Jaune was able to get his shield in front of most of them, but when he tried to swing Crocea Mors at me, I couldn’t help but grimace internally at how haphazard it was. I batted the sword aside easily, and spun around to let loose a flurry of thrusts at the holes in his guard. 

Jaune was sent staggering back, but a quick glance showed his Aura was only barely in the yellow even after all the hits he’d taken.  _ Wow, he really does have a lot. _

"Grip your sword closer to the hilt, and never go for a full swing,” I lectured as he recovered. “Go for less windup, and tighten your grip at the moment of impact for added power."

Jaune stared at me for a second, but I saw him adjusting his grip on Crocea Mors and grinned internally. His next attack, though still far too slow, was much less telegraphed than before. I was actually forced to step back a bit when I blocked it, which I took as a sign of progress. That meant it was time to kick it up a notch, and show him just how far he had to go.

“4 Limbs!” I burst forward suddenly, tossing my staff in the air and punching Jaune’s shield up and out of the way while he was distracted by the motion. I followed up with a jab to the stomach, then an elbow strike and a sweeping kick, knocking him closer to red, then leapt backwards to dodge a slightly cleaner swing of the sword in retaliation. 

“Better on the swing,” I commented, catching my staff with a flourish as it came back down. I immediately chucked it straight at Jaune like a javelin, channeling just the slightest bit of my Semblance to speed it up. Caught off guard, Jaune was struck right in the stomach, bowling him over and just barely dipping his Aura into the red.

“Match over!” Goodwitch called out, and I walked over to offer Jaune a hand up, which he took.

“Mr. Arc, you need to rely on your shield more to get you into a spot to attack your opponent, or open a spot for an ally to do so. If not for your large amounts of Aura, your openings would have left you dead or grievously wounded several times over. And Mr. Jaspar,” the look she fixed froze me in place, “Could you  _ please _ not call out attack names? This is real life, not a comic book,” she sighed and muttered something that I couldn’t hear at all.

As we walked back to the locker room, I looked over at this world’s closest analogue to a classical Knight. “Hey, Jaune, could I have a word?”

“Uh, sure?” he replied. He seemed a little confused, but mostly just looked down on himself after how one-sided our fight was.

I took a deep breath. “So the Professor said you had a lot of holes in your guard, right?” Here’s the first step, I hope, to getting Jaune into a better state for the future. “Well, I’ve got some advice that I think will help deal with that…”

20 minutes later, Jaune and I were making our way back to the stands, both of us deep in thought about very different things.

“At least it was over quickly,” Reseda commented as I sat back down next to my teammates. “With any luck, he wasn’t too crushed by his defeat.”

I could only hope, even with the help I’d given him. Either way, I decided that it was a problem to deal with later. In the meantime, there was some stuff I had to discuss with my team while the fights went on.

Serra

“Miss Azurite and Mr Lark, you are our next pair.”

Fucking  _ finally. _ It only took like three more fights until I got my chance to go. I stood up, stretching out my back before glancing at the boy in question. “Gimme a refresh? Team CRDL, right?”

“Yeah,” Aaron replied. “The dude doesn’t speak much, but from what was shown I think he’s a bit of a coward.”

I thought about that for a little bit before letting a slasher’s grin stretch across my face. “...I can work with that.”

“Oh boy,” I heard Reseda mutter underneath his breath as I left the seats and headed down to the pit, undoing the clasp on my back and sliding out two chakrams to hold. Aaron hadn’t mentioned anything about Lark’s Semblance, so he either didn’t have one (highly unlikely) or it was never shown and I was on my own. With any luck, it would be something that I could work around and not a game breaker like Yang’s is. 

Sky entered the arena a few seconds after I did, brandishing a halberd in his hands. I couldn’t help but notice that his knuckles were white as he gripped the weapon’s shaft, and donned another slasher smile to unnerve him.

“The match between Serra Azurite and Sky Lark will now begin,” Miss Goodwitch said. “Students, are you ready?”

“Mhm,” I hummed, holding my weapons at the ready.

“Yup,” Sky nodded, a little bit of confidence seeping into his stance as he did the same.

“Begin!”

I immediately rushed him, near-invisible strings shooting out and boosting my movement speed as I shot towards Sky-

And immediately skidded to a stop when the dude straight up  _ vanished. _ Okay, so that was definitely the dude’s Semblance, good to know. Now the problem was one, finding out what exactly it did while not losing the match, and two, being able to track the dude while he was invisible. Hm. Not quite game breaking, there’s gotta be some drawback I can exploit.

“This is gonna be a weird one,” I muttered to myself, sliding out the other 4 main chakrams and letting them float around me in a tight circle as I sent out feelers to try and pinpoint Sky’s location. “Not seeing the opponent in broad daylight? Wack.”

A couple of seconds passed before I heard the sound of boots trying to be silent on packed dirt, and I shot a couple dozen strings towards where I’d heard it. Sky let out a muffled curse, and the Semblance flickered away to reveal the dude slashing away at the strings, trying not to get trapped. “Gotcha!” 

“Wha-” Sky cut himself off and lunged out of the way when 4 chakrams were sent whizzing his way, stabbing his halberd into the ground to pole vault over them. Unlucky for him, these had strings attached, and I redirected the weapons for another pass by as I ran towards him, glowing strings extending from my hand as I gripped the other two chakrams in my other hand. 

“Eat  _ this!” _ I made sure that all the strings flowing from my right hand were very, very visible before whipping my hand towards Sky, the strings acting like a whip and shooting out ahead of me. I’d put enough Aura into them that they’d do some pretty substantial damage if they hit, at the cost of them glowing a very distracting light blue. I’d also ripped the move straight from Doffy’s repertoire, so… yeah. No Fire Dust though, that would be overkill in a scenario like this.

Sky… well, long story short, he didn’t dodge that. He was too preoccupied with trying not to get decapitated by the chakrams buzzing around him. The attack launched him directly into yellow-orange, to my surprise, and left a large whip mark on his face as it sent him flying. Not quite into the wall, but seeing as he did a couple of involuntary rolls on the way there before flopping face-first into the ground so I wasn’t really sure what it counted as.

“Maybe I  _ should’ve _ added the Fire Dust, knock him down into the red or something,” I mused as I reached out with some strings to grab the 4 chakrams lying on the ground. Sky had slashed the first strings pretty quickly, since they were pretty weak, but they’d fulfilled their purpose of being a distraction. More strings reached out to immobilize Sky, and despite his best efforts he couldn’t avoid the massive net I’d made for him in time.

The strings wound around him, completely binding his limbs. I grabbed his halberd off the ground with another set of strings, and maneuvered it so that I was pointing it at his throat.

“D’you surrender?” 

Sky growled, trying to break free of my Semblance (Ha, fat chance) before eventually sighing and hanging his head in defeat. “I surrender.”

“Mr. Lark has surrendered,” Goodwitch said from the side as I let the strings binding him dissolve. “Therefore, Ms. Azurite is the winner.” I tuned out her subsequent lecturing of Sky as I collected all my chakrams, pulling them back into my hands and stashing them in their pack. I’d not used any Dust in that spar at all, which was… well, I usually had at least one Dust-related attack in normal spars that weren’t done in my shitty school so it was a bit odd.

“And Ms. Azurite.” I turned back around just in time to see the Professor giving me a stern look. “Do be aware of how heavily you are relying on your Semblance in combat,” she said. “You were spending Aura with unnecessary movements and actions during your match, and that waste  _ will _ cost you against other opponents.” 

“Gotcha.” Welp, saw that one coming. But I guess Miss Goodwitch didn’t take into account that this was a very public spar. Not a real life or death scenario. A spar, in a controlled environment, with clear rules that can be exploited. I’m not so stupid as to waste shit like that in a real fight. All I had to do was intimidate Sky enough that he surrendered, and the threat of very serious bodily harm helped too. Hell, my first knockoff attack didn’t even  _ do _ that much. 

“Nice job,” Aaron commented as I plopped back down in my seat. “Doflamingo?”

“Yeah. No fire this time, though.”

“You clearly didn’t need it,” Reseda said absently, focused as he was on the next match, which was… Oh shit, that was Yang and Nora, wasn’t it. Wave goodbye to the arena, guys. “That leaves us at 3 for 4 today in terms of match record.”

“Nice.” I eyed Yang’s shotgun-gauntlets, warily thinking of the damage those could possibly deal to someone not using Aura. “Now, if only these spars were done in realistic environments…”

“So!” Yang declared after Team RWBY had settled into the privacy of their room. “You and Maxie,  _ BB _ ?” she asked teasingly. She’d kept quiet (aside from the initial teasing, of course) during combat class because of the excitement of the fights going on as well as Goodwitch’s presence, but now that they were back in their dorm room Blake had no more ways to worm out of  _ this _ questioning! Ruby had gone back to the forges to tune up Crescent Rose, and Weiss had made a beeline to the bathroom after her match, so it was just the two of them.

Unlike back in class, though, Blake didn’t react apart from a light shrug. “He’s just a friend from back home,” she explained curtly.

“Oh?” Yang leaned forwards eagerly. “A  _ childhood _ friend, maybe?”

Though she almost recoiled back when Blake took on a much more somber mein. “Yeah…” she muttered quietly. “Childhood. I didn’t think I’d ever see him again, not after…” 

Yang was left mentally floundering as she tried to figure out a way to pull her partner out of her funk, eventually settling on letting her Big Sister Instincts take over.

“Hey.” Blake looked up when she put a hand on her shoulder, and was surprised to see Yang giving her a small yet genuinely reassuring smile. “He’s here now, isn’t he? That’s all that matters.”

Blake’s mouth quirked upwards. “I guess, yeah.” She stood up, stretching for a bit before giving Yang a grateful look. “Thanks, Yang. You know, you’ve got quite the heart under all that airheadedness.”

“Hah, thanks Blakey!” the blonde grinned, before she fully registered what was said. “Hey!”

FWOMP.

Any further banter was cut off by a loud honking noise.

“What was that?” Blake frowned at the door. “Sounded like an instrument.”

There was silence for about 10 seconds or so before more notes sounded out, much less chaotic than the initial one. 

“Does someone on one of the other teams think they are a musician?” Weiss asked, poking her head out of the bathroom, giving her teammates an irritated look. “This is not an ideal time to be attempting a performance!”

“Well, we can’t exactly walk up to them and tell them to stop,” Yang shot back. “We don’t even know which team’s room it’s coming from, let alone who it is!”

The off-tune notes slowly became more uniform, as if the player was warming up—which they probably were—before pausing again.

“Did they stop?”

As if on cue, the notes started up again, but this time it was actually music, instead of sporadic bursts of off-tune notes. There was clearly something missing, as if the piece was meant for an entire orchestra accompaniment or at least a piano, but it was still a lot more pleasant nonetheless.

It wasn’t enough to hide the knock on the door. Weiss quickly shut herself back in the bathroom as Yang called out, “It’s open!”

The door opened a fraction and Reseda poked his head in. “Sorry ‘bout the noise,” he said. “Serra finished unpacking her trumpet and decided to get some practice in before we could get any soundproofing set up.”

The music paused, and an audible shout of “Wait, I’m supposed to get soundproofing?” came from down the hall. 

“You  _ didn’t _ have soundproofing before?” Reseda twisted around to stare incredulously back outside in Serra’s general direction, much to his spectators’ amusement. “How’d you get practice in without pissing everyone off?”

“The house was perpetually empty except for me, and I only used the school practice rooms when I had to! There wasn’t a  _ reason _ for me to get soundproofing!”

Aaron’s laughter came up the hall, and Reseda facepalmed. “He’s flat on his back on his bed, isn’t he?”

“Yup,” Serra sighed back, before her voice’s volume abruptly decreased as she presumably turned to address her team leader. “Hey Aaron! Get up and help or get an earful of off-tune Megalovania, your choice!” For some reason, that just made the laughter increase.

Yang at this point couldn’t help but burst out laughing herself. “Man, you guys are a riot!”

“We aim to please,” Reseda shot back dryly before his head disappeared from view and he shut the door behind him, presumably already going back to his team to continue their comedy act. “Serra, you’re gonna have to get soundproofing if you don’t wanna… ” His voice trailed off as he walked off, and Yang’s chuckles faded away soon after.

“Ah, man,” the blonde sighed happily. “I feel like this is gonna be a great year.”

Blake’s response to that was a simple shrug as she went to search for a book. “I was hoping for something quieter, but at the very least it won’t be boring.”

“I for one will be happier when things settle down,” Weiss declared as she exited the bathroom in her casual clothes and took a seat nearby. “I don’t think I could handle this level of raucousness for four years.”

“Ah, lighten up Weiss-cream!” Yang leaned over and draped an arm around the heiress’ shoulder, ignoring her offended sputtering and attempts to escape. “With how badass Team RWBY is, I can’t see this year being anything but smooth sailing from here on out!”

Yang’s energy was infectious, and that combined with Weiss’ comical flailing was enough to bring a smile to Blake’s face. “Yeah…” the disguised Faunus muttered quietly to herself, “Smooth sailing…” 

“You claimed,  _ Captain _ , that our voyage would be free of nuisances.” The Faunus in question quailed under the gaze of the woman he’d agreed to transport. 

In any other circumstance, he’d have protested. The Grimm were far from a predictable factor in the waters around Menagerie, true, but the waters between the island continent and the mainland of Anima were heavily travelled by civilian vessels and more than capable of dealing with anything short of an Elder Sea Feilong, if such a thing ever deigned to come to the surface. Piracy was an even rarer occurrence, as most bandit clans preferred to test their luck with the land-bound towns and villages as opposed to attempting to maintain a ship on top of any other survival-related difficulties such a lifetime brought on. With such low odds of true disruption, the captain of the  _ Horizon’s Edge _ could easily be forgiven for claiming a voyage would be trouble-free. 

This time, though, the elderly Iguana Faunus had no desire to do so. It’d do nothing more than invite his own death to question the woman in front of him.

The blue-haired Wolf Faunus scoffed as he failed to meet her gaze for more than a second, instead striding across the deck to observe the trio of Depth Reavers circling the ship. The crewmen on deck gave her a wide berth as she strode to the bow, planting one foot just above the figurehead and waiting.

It wasn’t longer than a minute before one of the Grimm circling around them sprang from the water. A single Depth Reaver was a terror to behold, with a massive, triangular helmet of bone-white armor that split open down the middle to reveal a maw of countless razor-sharp teeth. Its scales glistened in the night sky, covered in tiny spines sharp enough to rend a hole in the  _ Edge _ ’s hull. Twin beady red eyes gleamed as the Grimm launched through the air, straight at the woman.

She blurred into action at the last moment. Pulling one of the large studded clubs from her side, she jammed it into the beast's mouth, leaving it to dangle in the air. Despite the difference in sizes, the young blue-haired woman was easily holding the Depth Reaver aloft even as it struggled and thrashed, snarling helplessly.

“Annoying.” The woman  _ heaved _ with her one hand, tossing the Grimm even further into the air before winding up for a swing with her club. When the flailing Reaver came tumbling back down, it was met with a vicious blow that the ship’s captain swore  _ bent _ it around the woman’s club, nearly splitting it in half and dispelling it instantly.

And she didn’t even seem winded from the effort, instead turning her gaze to the two remaining Depth Reavers in the water. She grabbed the second club hanging from her waist, hefting one in each hand with terrifying ease. “Outta my way!” she roared, bringing both of her weapons down in an X-shaped slash.

There was a loud booming sound, and the captain was just able to make out some sort of distortion in the air coming from the woman’s weapons, before the water exploded around them. The  _ Horizon’s Edge _ was sent careening through the waves, and it was all he and his crew could do to ensure they didn’t capsize. When the ship finally settled, he saw that the woman responsible hadn’t moved an inch. And when he glanced over the side, he couldn’t see any sign of the Depth Reavers aside from two small clumps of ashes floating in the water.

“Captain.” The woman’s head turned back to look at him, and he paled at the intensity of her glare. “Get the ship moving again. These annoyances blocking our path have been dealt with.” The two blue-furred ears twitched on her head as the woman growled, baring her fangs for the entire ship to see. “And if we are stopped again, you will be joining them in oblivion.”

“Ah…” The captain stood there for a second before regaining his wits and nodding furiously. “Y-yes, Miss Roja! Right away!” The woman herself didn’t acknowledge the response, nor the flurry of motion from the crewmen around her, instead choosing to gaze off towards her final destination.

_ Soon, Beacon. Soon we shall see if you will be an annoyance or a challenge. _ A feral grin stretched itself across her face.  _ And you,  _ little brother, _ will finally have a chance to prove your worth, before I extinguish your disgrace of an existence for good. _


	10. Laying the Seeds of Change

**Chapter 9: Laying the Seeds of Change**

Reseda

The rest of our first week at Beacon was thankfully free of any more unusual excitement. Even combat class quickly fell into a routine, with Professor Goodwitch still assigning opponents based on matchups in an effort to set up theoretically even fights. Well, theoretically. Pyrrha was still undefeated, and if I remembered correctly that wouldn’t change for the rest of the semester. Maxie also had a near-flawless week, which was cool, and the rest of us won more than we lost, but the actually interesting parts of the week involved the other classes.

For one thing, there was an entire class dedicated to plant science, under Professor Peach. I guess it made sense for such a thing to be prioritized, at least, since Huntsman teams would often be sent on missions out into the Wilds where the ability to forage became the difference between life and death, but honestly the class was a bit mis-named since it also had a lot of biology and first-aid stuff included. Add in Professor Peach’s own… eccentricities… and it made the class a lot more of an experience than you’d think.

Two of the other classes, Weapon Maintenance and Stealth and Security, were also far from the typical fare I remembered from the Universities back home. As a Signal alum, I had of course made Orquestra myself, which made Professor Mulberry’s Weapon Maintenance class more of an excuse to get all the boring cleaning and upkeep stuff done than anything else. There was a bit of chemistry thrown in as well for the purpose of finding the right lubricants and cleaning supplies for each weapon component, but memories from Earth were pretty much sufficient for that.

And then there was Stealth and Security, under Professor Greene, which felt more like a business class than anything else with its focus on project management and efficiency where the Security portion was concerned. The Stealth half of the class functioned essentially like a massive game of hide-and-seek, with Blake, Ren, Sky from Team CRDL, and surprisingly enough Serra being the ones to dominate that portion.

And all of the classes at Beacon were big on homework, which was always fun. It wasn’t much more than simple busywork at this stage of the semester, but even so it was a time sink that had to be planned around. Thankfully, though, my previous life as a very recent college graduate left me with the knowledge and experience to get everything set out and finished quickly, which left me a decent amount of time for moments like these.

“Ahh,” I sighed as I collapsed on a beanbag chair in the library, pulling up the most recent Two Souls book on my Scroll in the process. “Finally.” Almost by necessity, Remnant’s entertainment industry was neatly a cut above Earth’s, especially thanks to the large amount of funding that’d been given to the education and training of artists and authors. While I hadn’t been able to find analogues for authors like Tolkien, Sir Terry Pratchett, or even Uncle Rick, the fiction series I  _ had _ found almost made up for their absence. 

A set of near-inaudible footsteps nearby got my attention, and I looked over to see Blake sitting down next to me with a book of her own. We gave each other brief smiles of acknowledgement before returning to our own devices. 

My smile didn’t go away as I turned back to my book. One of the things Aaron had asked each of us to do as part of his plan to change canon for the better was to make friends with the main cast. In Blake’s case, that came in the form of me and her being able to comfortably share a reading space, and sometimes even discuss the books that we both liked to read.

From what I remembered and from what Aaron and Maxie had told me, Blake wasn’t the type of person to trust easily, even among her own team after weeks of being their friends. That meant I’d be here playing the long game, making sure that Blake saw me as someone she could rely on as a friend, someone who wouldn’t judge, and someone she could trust. And yeah, she had Maxie and her parents now as opposed to literally no one in canon, but it really never hurt to have a wider support net.

It’d take a while to build up that sort of friendship with her, but I was fine with that. Until that time, I could still enjoy the company of a fellow bibliophile, and that was good enough for me.

Maxie

I sighed internally as I paced back and forth in our thankfully empty room, trying to come up with a plan. Dad’s original idea had been to have Team–er, Reseda, talk with Weiss, since they could bond over music and celebrity status and stuff, while I would keep spending time with BB. But I’d insisted on being the one to talk with Weiss, and Reseda was fine with it after I’d explained why. 

I knew what it was like growing up under a gaze that already knew what it wanted of you. What it expected you to be. And how it felt to poke that gaze in the eyes and run for the sake of living your own life. And when I looked at Weiss and remembered what canon had shown about her past, I couldn’t help but see a distorted reflection of what’d happened to me. Except prettier. And with combed hair. And an actually badass scar instead of what I’ve got.

But then she was also all cold and aloof and stuff, and I didn’t know how I could talk to her without messing it up… Hm… 

"I need to talk to a cool girl about how to talk to a cool girl," I decided, making my way to the coolest person on campus I knew… 

"You were wise to come to me for help, you smol yet tall doggo," Coco declared theatrically, shutting her book with a snap as I finished explaining my issue. “And I think I’ve got just the thing to help you out.”

"Tell me oh wise and ever trendy Coco!" I said, bowing before her coolness and ignoring the muffled laughter coming from the rest of her team.

“First of all!” She proclaimed, pacing before me like some kind of military officer, “You’ve got to know your target! Ms. Schnee is rich, so any gifts with monetary value are worthless! And as someone from Atlas high society, she’s more than used to people talking pretty to try and get into her good graces!" I nodded eagerly, hanging on to her every word as her teammates dispersed, already very used to their leader’s eccentricities.

“Point number two!” I jumped when Coco whirled around and pointed straight at me. “Know what  _ you _ have! Not just resources, but what do  _ you _ have to offer that makes you a good friend! And to be frank, Maxie, you’ve got all the unfair advantages there!” Huh? I tilted my head at her, confused by what she’d just said. Unfair advantages?

Her next words, though… “You’ve got a bod any guy’d be jealous of,  _ and _ you’re, like, an actual puppy besides! I swear, if Vel wasn’t already spoken for I’d’ve set the two of you up ages ago!”

“Coco!” Velvet yelped, face bright red. She gave me another look before letting out an “Eep!” and turning away, doing her best to ignore Fox’s and Yatsu’s grins. Not that I blamed her, because my reaction wasn’t any better.

"Lies and slander!” I shouted, curling up and rolling under the table to hide my face as I tried not to burn the floor with how hard I was blushing.

My little hiding place was removed from me when Coco lifted the table up with one hand, using the other to poke me on the back of the head. “And point number three,” she said with a much softer grin, “You gotta just go and ask her to hang out, Maxie. If just the two of you’s a little much, invite both teams along for a night on the town! From there, you just gotta be yourself. Don’t push, don’t be too clingy, just, y’know, be polite, be kind, all that stuff.”

I looked up, blush fading as I took in what she said, nodding slightly before an idea struck.

"I should use the Tome!" I exclaimed, leaping back to my feet and nearly clocking Coco on the chin as she leaned over me. Thankfully, she just laughed good-naturedly at my enthusiasm instead.

“The Tome, Maxie?” Fox asked teasingly. “Is that what you’re calling your collection now?”

"Mock it again and you don't get to use it during finals," I shot back, staring down the blind Hunter who just grinned and raised his hands in surrender. “But yes, The Tome of Knowledge!” I raced out of the room, tossing a “Thanks, Coco!” over my shoulder as I ran back to my room. I had an idea now, and I was gonna make use of it!

Weiss groaned to herself as she went over her History notes. Dr. Oobleck was smart, there was no denying that, but the man moved and spoke so quickly that keeping up with his lectures was almost an exercise in futility! What did he have in that thermos of his, pure caffeine?

Regardless, the point was that Dr. Oobleck’s… energetic… teaching style meant that she was usually the only member of Team RWBY able to take anything even resembling coherent notes. And even then, she needed to go back over them and transcribe them into something legible, because the frantic pace she was forced to scribble everything down made her handwriting look like a demented six-year-old’s instead of the proper script it was supposed to be.

“Urgh…” The Schnee heiress set her pen aside, massaging her temples in a vain attempt to stave off the oncoming headache. “I suppose it would be too much to request a transcript of Doctor Oobleck’s lectures,” she quietly grumbled, mindful of her place at one of the large study tables in the school’s library. “I don’t think I can take a full four years of this.”

Some shuffling from nearby got her attention, and she looked up to see Maxie sliding into the seat across from her with a grin. Great. He wasn’t a bad guy, but his type of boisterous energy was the  _ last _ thing she needed right now. “What do you want?” she asked bluntly. “I doubt you haven’t noticed, but I’m a little preoccupied right now.”

Instead of responding verbally, Maxie reached behind him and pulled out an absolutely  _ massive _ case of binders, setting it on the table with a thump. Weiss could only stare as he leafed through them before pulling out one of the larger ones and sliding it towards her.

Her astonishment only grew as she opened it up to find stacks of meticulously organized notes inside. “This is…”

“The notes from Dr. Oobleck’s class from the past few years,” Maxie finished, grinning smugly. “Being a ward of the school has its perks.” 

Weiss couldn’t help but stare for a moment, shocked by what these binders signified. Maxie had said before that he’d been a ward of Beacon for six or so years. Six years’ worth of notes for each class would be… Almost too good to be true. 

“What’s the catch?” she asked, eyes narrowing slightly. Help always came with a price attached. That was one of the many lessons that Atlesian high society had taught her. A fellow student wouldn’t be showing her this massive advantage that he possessed if he didn’t have something that he wanted in return.

"The catch,” Maxie replied, standing up and fixing her with an intense look, “Is that I want you to be happy!" He punctuated this declaration by stomping one foot and pointing at her dramatically… before paling and quickly sitting back down as a chorus of shushing rang out around him.

Weiss could only stare, dumbfounded by this absurd ball of contradictions that was her classmate. He wanted  _ her _ to be happy? And he thought he needed to bribe her to ensure it? 

“So the deal’s this,” he continued in a hushed tone. “I’ll let you use the Tome of Knowledge whenever you want–” Weiss stifled a very unladylike snort at hearing his name for the set of notes. “–But in exchange, I want you to hang out with your team, our team, and Team JNPR when we go out into Vale, alright? Just make friends, and have a night out around town. Laugh, talk, have fun, all that stuff, y’know?”

He held out a hand, and Weiss stared at him for a long moment before giving voice to the question that burned in her mind. “Why bother with all this?” she asked, eyeing him cautiously. “Why does my happiness matter so much to you that you’re willing to use an asset like  _ this _ ,” she hefted the binder in front of her, “As a bribe?”

Maxie tilted his head, giving her a quizzical look. “Huh? It’s simple,” he replied innocently. “You’re my friend, aren’t you? Why wouldn’t I want to make sure she’s got people to rely on?”

She was pretty sure some of her mental faculties stopped working for a moment. “You… you already think we’re friends?” she asked, wondering if she’d misheard or something. She’d had people proclaim themselves her friends before, but those were all spoiled, vapid rich kids not even worth her time of day let alone her friendship! Maxie had barely known her for more than two weeks, and he felt comfortable calling her a friend? Someone he could rely on?

And yet, when she looked at him, she couldn’t see anything disingenuous in the request. He genuinely thought that… that they were… 

It was this revelation more than anything else that drove her to extend her own hand. “Fine,” she said, shaking his hand decisively. “You have a deal, Maxie.”

“Yippee!” Maxie whisper-shouted happily, leaping from his seat and  _ dancing _ a little. “See you tomorrow Snow Bunny!” he called over his shoulder as he half-ran out of the room. Weiss watched him go with a sense of bemusement. 

Then she realized he’d left the entirety of his so-called Tome of Knowledge in the library with her, and groaned when she realized she’d have to bring the entire towering stack of binders along if she wanted to give it back. “What did I just get myself into?”

Serra

Two whole weeks of being at Beacon later, and honestly? It was okay. 

The classes were pretty good, even if sometimes the teachers gave me headaches, but overall I wasn’t regretting my choice of schools.

Except when it came to the family trait, of course. It took  _ forever _ to map out a layout of the dorm vents, as well as a path from Beacon to Vale proper without the use of Bullheads. Even with all that settled, I had to make sure the places that I stashed my gear wouldn’t be found by people. Again, no small feat. I had to cut through so many fucking forests, and all that did was land me in the far side of the residential district near the graveyard.

How ironic, considering the death rate the underground had and the amount of times I’d nearly died.

Alternate paths, contingency plans, I’d done all I could to minimize the chance that someone would find out. But none of them prepared me for the sheer hell that was putting on my gear in a fucking vent.

“I’m small, but I’m not so small that this shit is  _ easy,” _ I growled lowly, securing my mask and being careful to not bang the sides against the vent. “Note to self, change where gear is placed.” Vents were relatively safe spots because there weren’t any cameras, but I could’ve chosen a larger one than one I only just barely fit in.

Hey, at least this section of the vents was pretty far away from the dorms. I wouldn’t be heard unless I yelled, and I wasn’t  _ that _ stupid.

Mask in place and gear at least somewhat secured, I made my way through the vents until I got to the grate that blocked the roof access. I grabbed it with one hand and popped it out of the frame, being careful to not let the metal hit anything as I got out of the vent. I put the grate back where it was supposed to go, and carefully made my way across the roof to a part of the wall that was in a camera blindspot. I dropped down there, making sure Procella didn’t clatter to the ground.

Right, one part done. Now to get to Vale.

It took me longer than I’d like to admit for me to trek through the various forests to get to Vale. I’d left a cache with my usual neon blue hoodies about halfway through said trek, since leaving Beacon with something that bright was not the smartest thing to do.

“Testing testing,” I muttered to myself as I adjusted the voice changer in my mask, fiddling with the settings until my voice was its usual vaguely male self with an electronic reverb. “There we go.” I stashed my dark blue hoodie away and continued to Vale, hopping through the thick branches until I caught sight of the dull grey stone surrounding the perimeter of the graveyard. From there, it was only a matter of time until I was scaling the roof where we were supposed to meet up, the other two thieves already there.

“Where the hell is Riptide? I swear, he’s never taken this long to be at a heist,” Roman muttered to Neo above me, who had her parasol out judging from the lacy white and pink I could see. “Then again, he did say he had something to take care of.”

“Hi, idiots,” I deadpanned, gripping the edge of the roof and hauling myself over the edge like a fish out of water. “Ever heard of situational awareness? ‘Cause I think you guys need to practice.”

“Hello to you too, Riptide,” Roman sighed, cupping his hand in front of a cigar and lighting it as Neo gave me a cheery wave that I returned. “Are you aware of the etiquette that comes with a heist such as this one?”

“It’s been a while–” A few years to be exact “–But I’m not stupid. I know. You get the majority of the haul.”

The self-proclaimed fancy man smirked at me in that infuriating way that made me want to punch him in the face. “Good.” The smirk vanished, and suddenly the irritating fop was gone, and a hardened, professional heister had taken his place. “The target’s a set of warehouses the SDC’s using as a midway point to store their Dust in between the docks and the shops. Security’s gonna be a little heavy, with cameras and guards spread around the place.”

“Something I’m sure has nothing to do with your recent capers,” I snarked, much to Neo’s amusement. Roman, though, only grunted in response, which wasn’t like the guy. He was very much the type of person to boast about his own achievements when given the chance, or at least be smug about them, but… 

Fuck, that’s right. That bitch Cinder was blackmailing him or something, wasn’t she? He’d mentioned a ‘hot woman’ when he asked for information. I thought he was just being weird, not giving me a hint on who his business partner was!

“Anyways,” Roman continued, ignoring my efforts to conceal my minor panic attack, “I want to keep this one quiet. If the alarm sounds, we get out. And Neo,” his partner gave him a quizzical look. “No bodycount this time, got it? Just a classic in-and-out.” 

Neo pouted, which was surprisingly cute considering the fact that she wasn’t really all there in the head. Then again, were any of us alright up there? “Do I want to know about the bodycount?”

“No, you really don’t,” Roman deadpanned. “Although I’m surprised you didn’t hear about it.”

“Dude, most of your heists end up with a dead body or two. How am I supposed to tell which one it was?” I stretched out my limbs, and made sure my mask was secure. “I find it hilarious that the VPD usually go after me instead of you guys, considering the fact that you kill a  _ lot.” _

“Beats me why that is, but it’s not like I’m complaining,” Roman shrugged, with a bit of that smug grin showing itself again. Ass. “But I’m serious about the bodycount this time. Seems the VPD’s decided to splurge a bit, and all the guards here are pagered now. Any flatlines, and they’ll know.”

Aw, fuuuuuck… that makes things more complicated. “Well, that’s more a problem for you two, since you’re the ones with an actual bodycount. Sneak around more, embrace the whole shadow thief thing instead of barging in with bright lights and explosions.”

“Says the arsonist in bright neon blue.”

“Says the ginger in white.”

Neo shot us both a look that screamed ‘shut up,’ so I let my mouth click shut in favor of leaping from this roof to the next.

“You gonna hop the roofs or go a different route?”

“We’ll go roof-jumping,” Roman said, and I heard the click of boots follow me across the small gap.

What followed was a heist that surprisingly went to plan, for once. We went in, got the Dust —and in my case, a shitton of info too—and got out with no one the wiser. It would be noticed when they did an inventory check, but that was pretty much it. 

I even got a nice chunk of Hard-Light Dust outta it. Nice.

“You good, you two?” The other two thieves were positively swimming in Dust cases; even though Roman’s minions had gone to ferry out the Dust they’d swiped that still left the other two with a considerable amount to move themselves.

“Good here. You?”

“I’m doing swimmingly.” I flipped a hard drive open before closing it again. “Rejoin the chat if you need something; you know the code. It’ll come with a price, but that’s par for the course.”

“Yes, yes,” Roman waved me off, a cigar clenched between his teeth. Not even any gloating about the amount of Dust he got… man, Cinder really was making him change personality-wise. Looks like I had a real job on my hands making sure he got out of it alive. “We’re done here, Riptide.”

“Same to you.” I readjusted my grip on my own Dust cases before leaping across the roofs. After all, I needed to haul ass to get back before anyone got suspicious.

Aaron

“Uuuugh,” I heard Ruby complain next to me as she slumped her way out of our Leadership class. “That was so  _ boring _ ! Why do we gotta pay so much attention to all of these little things?”

I frowned slightly. Leadership class was important, after all, and the sooner Ruby realized it the better off she’d do when the fights rolled around. “You’d be surprised how the small details can make the difference,” I commented. “I mean, have you paid attention to how your teammates move? That helps me plan ways to throw them at enemies properly… And yes, sometimes I mean that literally,” I added, smiling as I saw Ruby space out in a very JT-like fashion. She was likely imagining me chucking Maxie at a particularly big Grimm… And ooh,  _ that  _ was a good idea for the future! “If it helps, Ruby, watch how… oh, watch how Weiss moves through a crowd of people, and try to think of a plan to use that in a fight.” 

Ruby’s brow scrunched up as she thought about it, but I could still tell she was a little bit confused. Hmm… a better example would be… “Actually, this might help too. Imagine your team as a mechashift weapon, with each of you serving as a vital component, and you’re the one with the blueprints.” Aha, that got her attention. “You wouldn’t build a weapon like that without knowing what each component does, right? It’s the same for a team, if that makes sense. Your job as the leader is to put all your components together so that you’ve got a coherent, functional weapon, you know?”

She let out a gasp, and I smirked at the literal stars in her eyes as she put the connections together. “How… How did you know how to explain that to me?” she asked, before shrinking in on herself a little. “I’m… not that obvious, am I?”

I just grinned reassuringly, reaching over to ruffle her hair almost on instinct and ignoring her offended squawk. “You’re fine, Ruby. I’m just observant.”  _ And cheating based on several years of watching your show, but that’s besides the point _ .

Ruby eventually managed to bat my hand away after some flailing, sliding away from me and pointing at me dramatically. “You stop that, you darn… uh… tall person!” she declared, and I had to really try and suppress the need to give her a hug and mess with her a little more. 

Instead, I turned my focus to Jaune, who’d split off from the two of us a few seconds ago and was heading off down a hallway that led outside. He had his sword on his back and looked kinda determined, which meant… Yeah, he was probably at the stage where he was trying to work things out on his own. A phase that I planned to nip in the bud as soon as possible, so… 

“Hey Ruby, I’m gonna go get some stuff from my locker really quick,” I said aloud, “So you go on ahead, okay?”

Ruby was a bit taken aback by how quickly I’d switched gears from teasing to semi-serious, but shrugged it off quickly. “‘Kay! Seeya later Aaron!”

“Tell your teammates I said hi,” I replied before turning and walking down the path Jaune had just been down. Thankfully, he wasn’t very hard to follow. By the time I got outside I could just make out his distinctive mop of yellow hair heading over to one of the small clearings on the outskirts of campus. After firing off a few quick messages on the Scroll I ran after him as stealthily as possible. When I made it to the clearing Jaune had stopped in, he’d already put his bag down and pulled his sword out, leaving the sheath/shield lying against the bag. I decided to hang back and see what he was going to do, since there wasn’t much here.

Jaune stared at his sword for a bit, before going over to the edge of the clearing and starting to swing away at the air. Poorly. I couldn’t help but despair silently at how sloppy his movements were.

I was tempted to just jump out and clock him over the head right then, but my sense of drama took over and instead I decided to get his attention in a way that had a little more…  _ gravitas _ .

“You’re holding yourself too stiffly.”

To his credit, Jaune didn’t let out a high-pitched yelp or anything like that. But the way that he jumped a little and whirled around told me that I’d still done a good enough job of surprising him. He relaxed a bit when he realized it was me, but I could tell he was still a little nervous. “Hey, Aaron,” he said hesitantly. “What, uh, brings you here?”

I debated a bit on how to handle this before deciding to just shrug and play it by ear. “I saw you going this way after we left the Leadership seminar, and got curious. And then I saw what you were doing and I just had to say something.”

Jaune flinched. “Yeah, uh… About that… What’d you mean by stiff?” he asked, and I cheered internally at the chance to start butterflying things right off the bat. 

“Well,” I began, unconsciously slipping a bit into the teacher persona I’d used back on Earth, “Your movements are really rigid, like your muscles are tense all over. That’s not really ideal, because it makes you really stiff and easy to unbalance with enough force.” I moved next to him, gently taking Crocea Mors and assuming a basic one-handed sword stance. “See how I’m all loose and stuff right now?” I continued, bouncing on my toes a little to emphasize my point. “Like this, I’m much more flexible in my movement, making it easier to dodge around, and I can very smoothly go between swings so that everything comes out a little faster and I can make several attacks in quick succession.” I went through a few basic sword attacks to show what I was talking about, before handing it back to Jaune. “Give it a try.”

He took it up hesitantly, and was about to try and mimic my stance when I stopped him. “You’re forgetting this.” I picked up his shield from where it’d been sitting on the grass beside us, expanding it out and tossing it over to him. “You’re not going to be fighting the same way I will, or Ruby will, or even Cardin or Maxie,” I explained. “You’ve got the shield, so make use of it..”

Jaune caught the shield and slung it over his arm with a nod before settling into an approximation of a stance. “Like this?” he asked, and I quickly moved around him, carefully nudging his arms and legs into the right places. When I finished, I stepped back to take in a Jaune whose form presented a much more solid and believable threat than what I’d seen in Combat class up till now.

“There. Now give it a shot.” 

A few moments later, I was calling a stop and shaking my head. “That’s not the best way to swing a sword, man. You can’t be winding up like that unless you want to broadcast the path of your swing three days in advance, and you’ve gotta put your core into a swing if you want to add any real force to it.”

“Hey, what kind of sword is that?” Jaune jumped again when Serra walked out into the clearing, spinning a chakram around her finger. “I’m thinking it’s a Arming sword. Either that or a Saif,” she continued, eyeing Crocea Mors speculatively. “Huh. My starting weapon was a Liuyedao, myself.”

“Oh- oh, really? I thought it was a claymore,” he said nervously.

“I can see why you thought it was.” Serra squinted at the blade. “If anything, it’s closer to a traditional longsword than a claymore.”

I raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t take you for a sword fanatic, Serra.”

“Eh, like I said, the first weapon I ever started to learn was a type of sword,” she waved off, thankfully with the hand not spinning a razor-sharp blade. “My dad wanted me to get a feel for different types of swords so that he could cherry pick an instructor for me. Didn’t last very long since eventually I settled on chakram, but I went through a period of time where all I learned about was swords. How to care for them, how to make them, how to make ones that can use Dust, yadda yadda.” She frowned. “I  _ liked _ that Liuyedao. Didn’t have the best make in the world and the balance was a bit iffy at times, but it was pretty good. Fairly sure my dad still has it somewhere.”

“Uh…” Jaune began hesitantly. “Not to be rude, but what are you doing here?”

“Oh, that’s on me,” I said cheerfully. “I thought it’d help you out to have someone else here to give advice too.”

The leader of Team JNPR stared wide-eyed for a bit, before his expression firmed. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate it, but… Why?”

“Because one, I wouldn’t stop bugging Aaron about it since it physically hurt to see you handle that thing–” Wow, harsh “–and because my sword-handling skills right now are perfect for you to spar against. I’m rusty, and while it’s not that bad, it’s still good practice for you. A mutual brushing up of our skills. You won’t be fighting  _ only _ Grimm as a Hunter, you know.”

I chuckled slightly. “She was the better choice. Pyrrha fights using a different type of sword than you, so different movement, stance, and balance. Good for sparring, not so much for teaching. The only other really good choice was the second year Parado Hojo, and his team’s unfortunately off campus.” 

Serra looked at me like she was mentally shuffling around names to remember who I was talking about, then her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Aaron, don’t tell me you mean one of the members of team KEPP, and that you wanted to join them in one of their ‘Pose-Offs’…”

“Well then, I won’t tell you that.” I, of course, got a smack to the back of the head, which I just pretended to ignore, grinning.

Jaune watched the byplay for a few moments, like he’d seen something like it before, then piped up, “Aaron, when you say different movement between mine and Pyrrha’s swords, wouldn’t that not matter too much? We’d still do the same general movements, so I could pick up from there, right?”

“Jaune, what is the difference between blocking something properly, and barely blocking it?” 

He stared at me in confusion, then blinked and started thinking, and I could see those gears shifting fast.  _ Ahh, there’s that brain. _ “Because when you block properly, you expend less energy? And if you time it right, you can use a proper block to move out of the way?”

I smirked. “And you wonder why Oz made you the leader of your team.” The resulting blush reminded me of Maxie when he got praised, and my smirk turned into a pure smile. After a few moments though, I left my smile fall, and looked at Jaune seriously. “Now then, there is the matter of the condition I told you and Pyrrha about. Are you ready to hear it? There will be no training with Serra or I without it.”

He looked nervous, and the look Serra gave me was… strange, almost appraising, like when I first told the team how, exactly, I could screw up every plan we had with just twelve words: “You tell your team the truth of how you got into Beacon.”

Serra blinked slowly, a far cry from the loud “WHAT!?” that Jaune yelped.

Cardin grinned as he hefted the crate of milk and cabbage up onto his one shoulder so that he could open the door to the locker rooms. Sky’d put his hacking skills to use and gotten him a one-way pass to a single remote locker, and he was gonna take advantage of it to get some good old-fashioned pranking done. Now, where was Arc’s locker again? Ah, there it was.

Out of all the other students in the year, Jaune Arc was the one that pissed him off the most. Rose may be irritatingly juvenile, but at least she showed through her combat abilities why the Headmaster’d let her in two years early. Jaspar was a bit of an oddball, but he stayed quiet most of the time so he wasn’t anyone to be concerned about. Team MTLC was full of idiots, but they were all capable in their own ways regardless of their obsession with putting on a good show or whatever.

Arc, though… Arc wasn’t like them. If it was just that he was a wimp that’d be fine. Even a guy like Cardin knew that leading a team was no small task, and guys like Sky could be total wusses and still have their own areas of competence. But if Arc had such an area, he couldn’t see it. The guy was  _ pathetic _ in combat, literally bottom of the class, and it wasn’t even close! How in the hell did someone like him get into a school like Beacon? He was almost  _ begging _ to get hit by something like this!

“There you are, Winchester!” Cardin turned his head to see Antem entering the room, and quickly stuffed the crate out of sight under a bench. For how friendly he was, the guy probably wouldn’t’ve gotten the appeal of some harmless fun.

The guy didn’t seem to notice at least, because he immediately started talking like nothing was wrong. “Hey, so you use fire Dust in your mace, right? Could you tell me your supplier? I’m kinda running low.”

“Isn’t your partner the Azurite heiress?” Cardin asked back, slightly annoyed at the interruption of his prank. “They’re no SDC, but I’m pretty sure you’d be able to get what you need there.”

Antem shrugged. “With Torchwick’s raids and all, Serra said the company’s been steering away from Dust handling in general. Something about it not being worth the cost in damages. I’d ask Schnee, but she’s off deciphering Oobleck’s recent lecture notes so you were the only one I could find.”

Geez, this guy. Normally, Cardin would’ve just told Antem to piss off right there, but the guy  _ was _ a competent fighter, even if his in-class record said otherwise. And Cardin wouldn’t say it out loud, but he actually really respected the fact that a celebrities’ kid wanted to do something with their life for a change, especially when said celebrities weren’t C-listers or anything like that. Antem in particular, what with his whole physical rehab deal, at least deserved the time of day since he still managed to find his way into Beacon.

He was also notoriously reluctant to actually initiate conversations with people, likely a holdover from being under the spotlight as a kid, so for him to reach out like this meant he was really hurting for Dust. Might as well respect the effort. “Right, well the shops I usually went to actually closed down a couple of weeks ago because of that Torchwick asshole.” It was something that he’d gladly introduce the so-called “Gentleman” thief’s face to his boot for. “But Dove got me in touch with some other guys who do good quality work. I can get him to introduce you.”

“That’d be perfect,” Antem replied, and as Cardin led him to his team’s room he kept up a relatively steady flow of conversation, leaving the crate of prank materials forgotten under the locker room bench. “By the way, which of you guys is the designated note-taker for Port’s class? I was supposed to be the one doing it yesterday, but I kinda spaced by accident so now we haven’t got anything. Mind helping out so that…” 

**End Chapter**


End file.
